The Kid
by azurefang
Summary: Season 3, a week before the 1920's dance, Damon and Stefan deal with a teenager who comes for a visit. Other characters, especially Katherine.
1. Chapter 1

The Kid

Disclaimer: The Vampire Diaries does not belong to me. Original characters, such as Josh and Paco, are mine. This version of Mrs. Flowers is different from in the books. Brand names like John Deere are not mine.

A/N This is my new story. Season 3. A week before the 1920's school dance, Damon and Stefan deal with a teenager who comes for a visit. Briefly includes other regular characters, especially Katherine.

Chapter 1

"Who Are You?"

Damon came into the house and went into the study. He was annoyed at various things and wanted a drink. With a huff, he poured himself a generous amount of bourbon and took a swallow. Ah, yes. Good stuff. It should be; he paid good money for it.

He walked over to the computer desk and looked at the small pile of mail resting there. These days Mrs. Flowers brought it in. Although she was new to taking care of the big house, she now knew which envelopes were bills that she should open and that could be paid on line, so she opened them. Other mail she left for Damon or Stefan to open. She left the junk mail in a separate pile, not knowing what might catch their interest.

Damon now tossed away a couple of things. There was a letter for Stefan. He picked it up and smelled it, catching a faint woman's scent. The return address didn't include a person's name, so he was curious, but not enough to open his brother's mail.

In a minute, he headed up the stairs, taking his drink with him. At the head of the stairs he thought he caught the scent of someone else, male, not a scent he recognized. Walking slowly down the hall past his bedroom, he sniffed and listened. Two doors down from his bedroom, he stopped at the closed door of another bedroom and listened. He could hear slow breathing, a heartbeat and the soft pat of fingers on a computer.

Silently, he tested the doorknob. It turned, so he slowly opened the door and peeked inside. A boy, a youngish teenager, sat at the desk, his right side was partly toward Damon. The young fellow was working on a laptop on the desk. He was connected by ear buds to an iPod. His hair was a light brown and was combed forward in a Justin Bieber style.

Damon eased up behind the lad and said loudly, "Ahem."

The boy nearly jumped out of his chair, whipping around and then cringing when he saw the man standing so close to him with a scowl on his face. Fear touched the young face as he removed the earphones.

"And who are you?" Damon growled, arching an eyebrow and staring intently into the hazel eyes.

"J… Josh! Josh Salvatore," the boy stammered. He stood up from the chair and faced Damon, the chair between them.

"A Salvatore, huh? And why are you here?"

"I came to stay with Aunt Theo."

"Mrs. Flowers is your aunt?"

"Yes, sir. My great aunt, actually."

"And she said you could stay here?"

"Well … no, sir, not exactly. She said she'd, like, have to ask the brothers. Are you Mr. Salvatore? One of the brothers?"

"Yes. I'm Damon, the older brother. The _master _of this house, I might add."

"Please, Mr. Salvatore, I want to stay here. For a little while, anyway," Josh said.

Damon eyed the boy. He guessed he was about five feet four inches tall. He was in that stage that was no longer a child, but also not yet gangly. He had a young face and was a nice-looking boy, as were many of the Salvatores. His voice had not started to change yet. He was dressed in a tee shirt and jeans. No visible piercings.

"And why do you want to stay here?"

"I …uh…I got into an argument with my dad. He grounded me. I, like, left home."

"Ran away?"

"Sort of. Until he cools off."

"What'd you do to piss him off?"

"No big deal. I went riding with my bud Hal. He's got his restricted license now. I didn't, like, know he'd taken his mother's car without asking her. She thought someone had stolen the car and called the police. Anyway, Dad had to come get me from the police station. He went all weird on me and grounded me! He took my iPod and my _phone_! Made me stay in the _guest _room so I couldn't, like, get to any of my stuff in my room! Isn't that, like, you know, child abuse or something?" the boy stammered, flustered.

"I'm sure it just seems like it. So, you got stuff from your room anyway and took off for here?" Damon figured the small laptop had likely been in the off-limits room. The iPod, too. The boy probably had a backpack.

"Yeah."

"How'd you get here?"

"I hitchhiked."

"I suppose you know that's dangerous. _Things_ might have happened to you."

"Nothing happened! Geez, you sound like my dad."

"I'm not your father, but I _am_ an adult. We tend to see things a little differently from kids your age."

"No kidding," Josh muttered. "Are you going to make me leave here?"

"I haven't decided. Have you phoned your parents?"

"I live with my dad. My mother got married again and moved to New York City."

"And where do you usually live?"

"Richmond."

Damon was aware that a lot of the Salvatore family lived in Virginia, especially Richmond. They were mostly descendants of Pietro Salvatore, Damon and Stefan's baby brother. Peter, as he was called, had been brought up in Richmond by the family of their mother. He had married and had had many children.

"How old are you?"

"Fourteen. Almost _fifteen_." He wanted Damon to know he was no little kid.

"So, did you phone your father and tell him where you are?"

"No."

Damon had mixed feeling about this. Damon himself had had such a hard time with his own father, that he sometimes had negative feelings toward fathers, even if he didn't know the men. He told himself the boy's father was likely not beating him, just trying to discipline him. But why did the kid have to be _here?_ Didn't he have other relatives to take him in? His mother, for instance?

"Damon?" said a woman behind him.

He turned to see Mrs. Theophilia Salvatore Flowers standing in the doorway. She was not a timid woman, but she looked hesitant and concerned as she used a hand to brush back a strand of gray hair. She was dressed neatly in blue slacks and a blue-flowered blouse.

"I was waiting for you to come home to tell you about Josh, but I see you two have already met," she said.

"Surprise. Surprise," Damon said, raising an eyebrow at the woman.

She was now functioning as manager of the big house and as a limited housekeeper. In truth, she was the latest Salvatore to lease the big house, since the brothers, as vampires, were not allowed to do so. Damon, Stefan and Mrs. Flowers were in the process of getting to know each other. The arrival of this boy was a wrinkle in the process.

"Josh, if you'll excuse us, I need to discuss this situation with Damon," she said to the boy.

She and Damon left the room, closing the door behind them. They headed for the back stairway and went down to the kitchen.

"Tea?" she asked. For herself she poured hot water into a cup with a tea bag.

"No. Okay, what's with Josh?" He sat down at the table. He still had his glass with a little bourbon in it, and he took a sip.

Sitting down also, the woman said, "Josh showed up on the front porch a couple of hours ago. I was surprised to see him, but I couldn't refuse to take him in. I told him he could stay only if it was all right with you. Damon, I know you probably don't want a teenager in the house. Just say so, and I'll try to make other arrangements."

"He's a Salvatore. Does he know about me and my brother? What we are?"

"As far as I know, he doesn't."

"If he stays, he's bound to find out. All hell is breaking loose with the Mikaelsons. I don't know if we can trust him to keep his mouth shut. Also, I don't know what he's into. Drugs. Alcohol. He better not get into my good liquor. Maybe he steals stuff. Nobody in this house right now smokes. I want to keep it that way."

"Me, too. He hasn't smoked anything since he got here," the woman said. She eyed him and raised an eyebrow. "Did you ever smoke cigarettes or a pipe?"

"Yes, to both, but it's been a while. You?"

"I did when I was young. No one really knew it led to the cancer and emphysema. Smoking contributed to my husband's death," the woman said. With a sigh, she added, "I hope Josh isn't into any of the stuff so many kids do these days."

"I'm sure he's no saint," Damon muttered with a snort. "I sure as hell wasn't when I was his age."

"So what's your decision?"

"I'll talk to him. Lay down a bunch of rules. He may figure his father's rules are less strict than mine and go home. And you better call his father before Josh gets listed as a missing kid."

"I will," Mrs. Flowers said, nodding. "Thank you for not just tossing him out of the house."

"I might yet," Damon said, finishing his drink.

A sudden loud noise made both of them jump.

"What the hell," Damon said as he stood up and strode down the hall toward the source of the somewhat musical noise. Was it the television in the living room? The stereo? No, it was the piano in the study.

Entering the room, he found Josh seated on the piano bench, attacking the piano keys with vigor, producing some sort of music.

"What are you doing?" Damon shouted at him, going to the baby grand piano that stood in the corner of the big study past the fireplace.

"I'm playing the piano. What does it _look_ like?" the boy said with a grin, still playing.

"Don't you smart-mouth me!"

"I'm sorry, sir." Josh stopped playing and sat still, staring at Damon with an uncertain look in his eyes.

"You keep pounding on the keys like Jerry Lee Lewis and I'll have to call a piano tuner," Damon fumed.

"I was just playing a song I play at home. Geez. And who is Jerry Lee?"

"Someone way before your time, I guess. Played like that. Sort of."

"Cool."

"What the hell do you play on?" Damon asked in an accusatory voice.

"My digital keyboard. Me and my buds Hal and Rusty play our stuff in our garage. We write our own songs." Josh's expression said he was proud of their accomplishments.

"You call that _music_?" Damon said, waving his hands in the air. He knew he needed to calm down. The kid was playing the kind of music that many bands did play these days. And quite a bit of it he liked, when he was in the mood.

"Well, yeah, dude."

"Excuse me? Did you call me _'dude'_?"

"Sorry. I meant 'Mr. Salvatore'."

Damon scowled daggers at the teen, who looked down at the keyboard, but didn't touch it.

After a long moment, Josh looked up at Damon and asked, "Do you play?"

"Sometimes. But nothing you ever heard of, I'm sure," Damon said with a snort.

"Would you show me?" the boy asked, getting up from the bench.

Damon had a feeling the kid was trying to soothe the older man's wrath by asking him to play something. He was going to refuse, but on the other hand, he wanted to show the boy that he really could play, so he sat on the bench and played a number that he liked and could play well.

"Cool," Josh said when Damon was done. "What's it called?"

"It's called 'Misty'."

"I don't know it. It's, like, a little slow. An oldie, I guess. Know anything a little more up-beat?"

Damon knew an old ragtime song which was certainly much more up-beat, so he played that.

"That's really cool, dude! Uh…Mr. Salvatore. I'd like to learn that," the boy said with more enthusiasm.

"That kind of song is called 'ragtime'. I'm sure you can learn it. And look, call me 'Damon', okay?"

"Are you sure? Like, half the time you sound like my dad."

"I'm _not_ your dad! I'm _way _younger," Damon said indignantly.

"I'm sure. You don't have any gray hair. Dad's getting kinda old. I think he was 40 on his last birthday."

"He's getting up there, all right. How are you related to Mrs. Flowers, Josh?"

"She's my grandfather's sister. She's really old, but she's cool. Some old folks just, like, sit around and hardly do anything. But not her. You know what I mean?"

"Yeah. I think your aunt still has a lot of energy. That's why she came here to run this house. Look, I'll give you a chance to stay here for a little while. No smoking, drinking liquor or doing drugs. No riding around in stolen cars. No staying out late."

"I'm cool with that, Damon," Josh said readily.

Damon thought he agreed too quickly. He had, as yet, no way to know how truthful the youth was.

In a moment, as Damon rose from the piano bench, the boy asked, "So, can I play my songs?"

"I guess. Look, if I get tired of hearing it, I'll yell at you. That means stop playing, okay?"

"Cool."

"And don't pound on the keys. It's not necessary."

"Okay."

Damon went up to his room, which unfortunately was right over the study. He could easily hear the piano. After an annoyed couple of minutes, he had to admit the kid was really playing a recognizable melody, but mostly a lot of chords. He wondered how the father and the neighbors liked to hear that coming from the garage. Probably one or more of the friends played guitar with the amplifier turned up. Probably one of them played drums. Still, musicians had to start somewhere.

A/N I hope you will like this new story. Somehow, Josh will stumble into one problem or conflict after another, much to Damon's annoyance. Comments, please.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

A/N Thanks for taking a chance on this story. I love to have people reading and commenting. Katherine is an important part of this story and she is introduced in this chapter.

"Stefan Meets Josh"

Stefan heard the piano the moment he stepped out of his Porsche. He knew right away it wasn't Damon playing. Not his style at all. So who was pounding the keys? He saw Damon's Camero and farther down the driveway, Mrs. Flowers' Mercedes. Whoever was at the piano hadn't arrived in their own car, unless it was Mrs. Flowers and she was into that kind of music, which he doubted.

The front door was unlocked, as it usually was when someone was at home. He entered quietly and peeked into the study. A kid! A teenage boy. Stefan stood at the edge of the doorway and watched. The youth hadn't seen him yet, concentrating on the keyboard. More attuned to that kind of music than Damon, Stefan appreciated the boy's skill faster than the older brother had.

Stefan was surprised that Damon was allowing the young fellow to pound away. Maybe Damon had retreated to the back patio.

The music suddenly stopped as the boy spotted Stefan.

"You don't need to stop," Stefan said, entering the study. "Who might you be?"

"I'm Josh Salvatore. Mrs. Flowers is my great aunt," Josh said, ready with answers this time.

"No kidding? I'm Stefan Salvatore. I guess we're distant relatives," Stefan said, and he held out his hand.

Josh shook his hand firmly. "Cool. Good to meet you, dude. Eh, Stefan. Damon says I'm not to call y'all 'dude.'"

"It's okay with me," Stefan said with a small smile. Attending high school, he was used to the way the kids talked to each other. At least Josh wasn't using the common four-letter words. Probably Mrs. Flowers had insisted he didn't. Ladies of her generation preferred not to hear that sort of language.

"You got a backpack," Josh noticed as Stefan laid it down on the nearest chair. The corner of a school book stuck out the top. "Are you in school?"

"A senior. If you're here, I guess you skipped school?"

"Yeah. Had a fight with my old man and hitched over here to visit my aunt," Josh admitted.

"You'll have to make up the work. Not fun," Stefan said, heading for the desk to look at the mail. He saw the letter addressed to him. Who? He wondered, sniffing. The letter smelled old and looked a bit battered. Who did he know in Tulsa, Oklahoma? He tried to make out the postmark. In fact, there were three postmarks, one of them new. Chicago.

Really curious, he carefully opened it while Josh went back to playing. A photograph fell out and he picked it up. It showed a pretty young woman wearing a straw hat, jeans and a plaid shirt. Stefan was shocked to see that the woman was Lexi, his old vampire friend. Lexi, who'd been dead-dead for a year now. He remembered that she had asked him if he had ever received a letter she had written him and he had said he hadn't. Writing letters to people on the move was often a waste of time. Somehow, someone had tracked him to Chicago and then to Mystic Falls. The fact that someone had tracked him at all was worrisome in itself, although Damon had managed to do so while Stefan was with Klaus.

The letter from Lexi told him of the death of someone they had both liked a lot. Stefan knew this already because she had told him in person when she had come to town. Stefan still felt a touch of anger when he thought of how and why Damon had killed her. The letter also mentioned how much she missed her old friend Stefan and the fact that they had had so many good times together. Stefan knew the good times had been because she was such a fun person.

Lexi had tried to find Stefan each time he had a birthday and many years she succeeded. The last time had caused her death. No more birthdays with Lexi.

"You look sad. Bad news?" Josh asked from the piano.

Stefan hadn't even noticed that the youth had stopped playing. "Old news really. But it reminds me of a friend who died. Two friends who died." He was pleased that he now had a photograph to remember Lexi by.

"Bummer. I lost a friend last year. Overdosed."

"Sorry to hear that."

"Me, too. Is there anything to drink around here?"

Stefan gave the boy a look.

"I meant like a Coke or something. A soda. Aunt Theo drinks tea all the time," the boy hastily said. "That's not what I want. And I _didn't_ mean booze."

"We have Cokes and root beer. A friend likes root beer," Stefan said. "Come on to the kitchen." It was Jeremy Gilbert who liked root beer when he wasn't drinking real beer.

Stefan led the way to the kitchen, followed closely by Josh. The boy was shorter than Stefan, which was not surprising for his age. Which was what? Stefan wondered.

"How old are you?" he asked.

"Fourteen, but I'll be fifteen in a couple of months," Josh said, carrying himself as tall as he could. He stood five feet four and a half inches. He knew his father was five feet nine inches, so he expected to grow at least that tall, if not more, sometime. Sometime soon, he wished.

Heading for the refrigerator, Stefan suddenly wondered if Damon had any bags of blood in there. "Have a seat. Coke or root beer?"

"Coke," the boy said, plunking himself down on a chair.

Stefan retrieved two cans of Coke and noted that there were no bags of blood. He reached up to the nearby cabinet, changed his mind and opened another cabinet for a package of chocolate chip cookies. He set these on the table, handing Josh a can. The boy opened the can and took a long swallow. He also eyed the cookies as Stefan opened the package. For a few minutes the two of them ate and drank hungrily. They carried on an easy conversation.

"Why are there Post-it Notes on the cabinet doors?" Josh asked, looking around.

"Your aunt is re-organizing our kitchen. Without the notes we can't find things," Stefan said with a grin.

"Is that okay with you and Damon?"

"Yeah. Damon gave her permission. It's no big deal."

"You've lived here all your life and you don't care that she comes in and starts moving stuff?"

"Damon and I don't care so much because we don't live here all the time. We move around quite a bit."

"Why? 'Cause of his job?" Josh's aunt had told him that the brothers' parents were dead.

"No. Private reasons."

"What's he do for a living?"

"He's working with the sheriff these days," Stefan said, not wanting to say that Damon had no job and did nothing but cause trouble half the time. He did help out the sheriff on a volunteer basis now and then.

"Oh, wow. So he's a cop?"

"In a way. Don't cross him, okay?"

"Okay," Josh said.

Damon, who had heard Stefan say "Don't cross him, okay?", walked into the kitchen. He assumed Stefan meant him and was warning the boy. In a moment, Mrs. Flowers also came into the kitchen.

"Don't spoil your appetite for supper, boys," she said.

"Nothing spoils my appetite, Aunt Theo," Josh assured her.

"Mine either," Stefan quipped. He looked at Damon, who was scowling a little. Damon shook his head just slightly, a subtle warning, and Stefan wasn't sure what it meant. One thing it could mean was that the boy didn't know they were blood drinkers.

There was a knock on the back door close by and Damon, being closest, went to it. He could see who was there, because the door had glass in its upper half. He smirked and didn't open the door.

"Don't make me talk to you through the door, Damon. I can probably break the glass," growled the young lady on the outside.

"Katherine. How nice to see you," Damon said snidely after he opened the door. He knew that she could not get into the house since Mrs. Flowers had signed the lease papers.

The lady of the house moved closer to Damon to see who Katherine was. This was one of the people Damon had told her not to invite in. She was surprised to see that the young woman did look just like Elena, as Damon had warned her.

"I need to come inside, Damon," Katherine said. "All my stuff is here. I need to change clothes." There was a spot of blood on the thin shoulder strap of her lace camisole top.

Josh had moved over to see the newcomer. His eyes were fixed on her cleavage and rather good chest. Her tight cami top revealed that she was not wearing a bra.

Katherine spotted him, saw his fixed stare and spoke up, "Hi there, sweet cheeks." She looked him in the eye as he met hers, and then she moved her eyes down to his crotch where he had begun to respond to her breasts. Her stare increased his response. Totally embarrassed and red-faced, Josh turned and hurried from the room.

"That wasn't nice, Katherine," Stefan said.

"He shouldn't stare. Of course, I'm used to it, but still, that was fun. Now really, I need to come in."

"Mrs. Flowers," Damon said, "Katherine is often not a nice person at all. And as I told you before, she is one of _us_. She can't come in without an invite from you."

"You told me not to invite her in," the woman pointed out.

"Damon!" Katherine said, glowering at him.

"Maybe Bonnie could do a spell that would limit Katherine's access to the basement area she's been using," Stefan suggested.

"See, Damon, Stefan is not as closed-minded as you," the pretty vampire said with a false smile.

"That's a thought," Damon said. "We could ask Witchy. In the meantime, you can't come in, Katherine. Go hang out somewhere else. I'll call you if you got your phone."

Katherine swore at him, patted her small purse and then vanished in a blur.

"Damon, that probably wasn't smart to make her mad," Stefan said. "If something happened to Mrs. Flowers, Katherine could come right back in."

He realized that his statement was frightening to Mrs. Flowers and he thought to amend it. "I mean…"

"She might _attack _me?" the older woman said with alarm.

"Nice move, Stefan," Damon said. To the woman he added, "Don't go outside tonight. We'll get Bonnie over here and try to fix this." He wished Katherine would just leave town, as she often did.

"Oh, dear. This isn't good. Perhaps we should just let her in," Mrs. Flowers suggested.

"No. This is life with us vampires," Damon murmured to her. He gave her a crooked smile. "For now, don't invite her in. I'll see what we can do to accommodate her."

"Please do. Thank you. Now, I need to see if Josh is all right. She really humiliated him," the woman said.

"Let me go talk to him," Stefan said. "You know, guy to guy."

"Yes. All right. That would be better," she agreed.

"I'll call Bonnie," Damon said. "I don't know that she'll help, but I might as well ask."

"Don't be snarky to her," Stefan said. "Be nice."

Damon gave him a sneer and then reached in his pocket for his phone.

Stefan went up to the boy's room and knocked on the door.

"Go away."

"It's Stefan. I want to talk to you. About that woman."

"No."

"Yes," Stefan said and he opened the door easily because it wasn't locked.

"Leave me alone! She did that on purpose! In front of _everyone_!"

"Yes, she did. She didn't like you staring at her boobs." Stefan sat on the bed, because Josh was at the desk.

"If she didn't want me to look, why does she dress that way?"

"You have to learn to balance looking without staring. You have to make frequent eye contact so women know you don't consider them just a couple of boobs. Or just a pair of legs. Or ass. Women like to be admired for their looks and their clothes, they really do, but they don't want a guy to stand there like an idiot, drooling. You were practically drooling. It's real uncool."

The conversation went on about Katherine and about women and about a guy's response to them. Stefan's understanding of the situation was from a young male's point of view, but also based on decades of experience. He made it interesting enough with funny little stories to keep Josh's attention and not fall into lecture mode.

Josh's attitude loosened up quite a bit. Despite the humiliating episode, he hoped to see Katherine again.

A/N Working on the next chapter. Katherine isn't going away. Please review to encourage me to keep going with this story.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

A/N This story hasn't attracted a lot of readers, so I want to thank those of you who are reading it and those who have reviewed. Be patient, eventually Josh will get into serious trouble.

"Opening the Door for Katherine"

Downstairs, Damon phoned Bonnie Bennett. Mrs. Flowers listened to what he had to say. She gathered that Damon and Bonnie were not very good friends. It sounded as if he and the girl were exchanging subtle insults. She was almost surprised when the teenaged witch agreed to come to the house to help.

Bonnie arrived and with her came Elena. They had both been at Elena's house during Damon's phone call. Damon walkedg to meet them at the car. He was pleased to see Elena and he grinned at her. He really wished she would choose him as her boyfriend and lover instead of Stefan. However, he wasn't really sure they were lovers again. Yet. If not, he still had a chance.

"Before we go in, I have to tell you something. Mrs. Flowers' nephew is here. A kid. As far as we know, he knows nothing about vampires or witches. I'm not sure how we're going to handle this thing I want Bonnie to do," Damon said as they stood by Bonnie's car. He had hoped Stefan would keep Josh busy upstairs, but both of them had come downstairs. They were standing on the porch as Damon, Elena and Bonnie walked to the porch.

Josh was gaping at Elena, thinking she was Katherine. Elena's clothes were less revealing than Katherine's, but the similar look of the girls could confuse people.

"She came back?" Josh asked Stefan. "She changed clothes already?"

"No. That's Elena, my girlfriend. I know she looks a lot like Katherine, but they are two totally different people. And don't drool or stare," Stefan whispered.

Josh shot Stefan a frown, but then tried not to stare. Elena had decent breasts, too. He also looked at the pretty girl beside Elena as they walked toward the porch. Smooth mocha skin, intense eyes. Decent boobs. Don't stare, he told himself. Remember to look them in the eye now and then.

Damon introduced the young women to Josh, who blushed a little.

"Stefan, why don't you take Josh for a spin in your Porsche? I bet he'd like that," Damon said, dropping a big hint.

Stefan had slipped an arm around Elena's waist and didn't want to go anywhere, but he knew they had to get Josh out of the house. When he invited Josh to go for the drive, the boy seemed reluctant.

"Later, Stefan?" he said, his eyes roving over Bonnie.

"No, now," Stefan said. "Damon has business to talk about with Elena and

Bonnie. Sheriff's business."

"I'd like to hear about sheriff stuff."

Damon had no idea what the sheriff had to do with this, but he went along with it. "Confidential stuff, Josh. Go with Stefan. Half an hour. And I mean _now_."

"Yes, sir. Okay. Cool car, Stefan. What year is it?" the boy asked Stefan, turning to face the driveway and getting his first good look at the low red car.

Stefan was telling him a couple of facts about the car as the two walked away from the porch. Josh went around to the passenger side and had to wait for Stefan to unlock the door. His eyes went to Elena, who looked so much like Katherine. As Damon and the two girls turned to go inside, Josh noticed that Damon had a hand on the back of Elena's neck in an intimate way. The boy thought, Does Damon have a thing for Stefan's girlfriend? Does he know? She isn't moving to get out from under his touch.

"What's with the sheriff business?" Elena asked as the three of them entered the house. She felt Damon's hand fall away from the back of her neck. She didn't mind his touch at all.

"I have no idea. I think its something Stefan told Josh. Come on out the back door and I'll show you the door Katherine has been using to get into the basement," Damon said. They all walked to the kitchen where Mrs. Flowers was checking cabinets and making a list of something. Brief re-introductions were quickly made between the woman and Bonnie. Elena she already knew. The older woman asked to accompany them and Damon nodded. She would have to do the invitation, limited by Bonnie's spell.

As they went out to the back patio, a brick terrace of good size, Damon scanned the yard. The large back lawn had several small flower gardens, a small marble fountain and a couple of brick pathways. To the right was a multicar garage with a shed attached. Behind it was a small greenhouse and behind that a tennis court.

Woods surrounded the yard, providing privacy from neighbors. Across the yard from the tennis courts was a white wooden swing amid dormant rose bushes. Sitting on it and swaying slowly to and fro, was Katherine. Her eyes met his for a moment. She was waiting to get in, but she didn't approach.

Damon led the way around to the left to the south side of the house, walking to a bulkhead slanted against the side of the building. He lifted the doors and walked down the few steps to a door. It wasn't locked. The only person who had been using the door recently was Katherine, and she was now blocked by the invisible force that kept uninvited vampires out.

The four people entered and walked to one of the many divisions in the large basement. Damon opened a door to a room which had no window, but a light bulb hung from the ceiling. He turned it on with a switch by the door. It became immediately obvious that someone had been living here, for there was a bed of blankets on the brick floor and clothing hung on pegs on the wall. Two pairs of shoes rested on the floor. There were other items there, too.

"She's really been living here," Elena said.

"Off and on," Damon said, nodding. "As you know, she doesn't spend a lot of time in Mystic Falls. Stefan and I didn't know she was down here until she admitted it. That was back after the deaths of Luka and his father."

"That's been many months now. A year almost," Bonnie said. "You let her stay."

"Well, yeah," Damon admitted grudgingly. He often didn't like that Katherine intruded in their lives, but sometimes she was a life-saver.

They stood looking around. The room also included many shelves along one wall and there was another door opposite the hall door.

"I wonder where that goes," Elena said, nodding toward the door. "Does it go outside?"

"It's a bomb shelter," Damon said. "From back in the days when America was sure the Soviets were going to drop nuclear bombs on us. I remember Zach's father showing it to me when I visited here back in the 50's. It's all underground. Even this room has concrete walls and ceiling."

In the past ninety years of the house's existance, he had come to here rarely, most times to spy on Stefan, who visited occasionally. "Okay, back to business."

"And you want Katherine to have access again? To let her get to her things? Why not just give her all her stuff and let her go away?" Bonnie asked.

"Good question. I don't have a good answer," Damon admitted. "But that's not what I want."

"There's an old wall phone here. That's weird. I mean, if someone dropped a nuclear bomb, the old phone lines would all be down," Elena said, seeing it in the dim light. She picked up the phone and listened. There was a dial tone.

"It is weird. It still works because we still have a land line," Damon said. "So, Bonnie, can you give Katherine access to this room without her having access to the rest of the house? Until or if she is properly invited in?"

"Yes. I'm pretty sure I can. It shouldn't be hard because the room is near the outside door and not next to the stairs going upstairs," Bonnie said. "I have a box of candles in the car. Help me go get them."

Once the candles were in place and lit, it only took Bonnie five minutes to do the spell she thought would work. Mrs. Flowers watched in silent amazement and some doubts. Damon went outside and beckoned to Katherine. She sauntered over, a hint of a smirk on her lips, and followed Damon down the outside stairs to the open door.

Mrs. Flowers spoke to her in the words she had been coached to say. "Please come into this limited space, Katherine."

"Try it," Damon said, stepping aside.

Katherine reached a hand in past the door frame. Her hand was not stopped by any barrier.

"Yes!" she grinned and she stepped through into the basement hallway. Damon followed her past the flickering candles that led to "her" room. Bonnie, Elena and Mrs. Flowers stood in the hallway watching as she walked into the small room.

"Now, this is better," she said, looking around. She looked at Bonnie and smiled. "I'm sure you didn't want to do this for me, but thanks for doing it anyway." She looked at Elena and added in a snarky tone, "Hello to you too, missy."

Mrs. Flowers watched the two young ladies, amazed that they looked like identical twins. There was certainly a hint of hostility there, however.

Wondering how far she could go in the hall, Katherine left the room and went to where three candles stood across the hall floor. Feeling ahead of her with a hand, she was assured that the barrier was there between the candles. She only had access to a short bit of hallway and her room. It was enough.

"Okay, everyone, let's pick up this stuff and get upstairs," Damon said impatiently. "Have fun down here, Katherine."

They went back upstairs where they assured Mrs. Flowers that Katherine would not be able to come into the rest of the house. "I still say, don't invite her in," Damon said. "And keep wearing that locket with the vervain so she can't compel you to do anything."

"What about Josh? What if she compels him to ask her in?"

"He's just a guest here. He doesn't count. If you want to protect him, brew up some coffee or tea with a pinch of vervain in it. That will protect him," Damon said.

"I think I will. I don't trust that woman, the way she eyed Josh," Mrs. Flowers said with a frown.

Damon carried the box of candles out to Elena's car. He wanted her to stay at the house for a while, but she said she and Bonnie had things to do. In a minute, the girls drove away and, with a sigh on longing, Damon went back into the house.

Stefan drove around the town, showing Josh where the high school was and where the Mystic Grill was.

"Good burgers and fries. Good shakes, too," Stefan said. "They got a bar there, too, but the hardcore drinkers don't go there. Except my brother.

"He gets wasted?"

"Sometimes. Don't push Damon. He has a temper. Mostly he has a sharp tongue. Snarky and all."

"He gives you a hard time?"

"Sometimes. I don't take too much crap from him, though."

"How old are you?"

"Eighteen. Almost nineteen.

"Shouldn't you be, like, finished with high school, if you'll pardon my asking."

"I missed a year. Got sick. I'm okay with this. I'm in the same class with my girlfriend Elena."

"She looks so much like that other girl, Katherine."

"It's spooky, I know. By the way, Katherine is older than she looks. She isn't in school like us."

Stefan continued to drive here and there, telling Josh stuff. They finally cruised back into the town center where the square was located.

"That's the county court house and the sheriff's office," Stefan said, indicating the building with the tall clock tower.

"Mystic isn't a very big county, is it?" Josh asked.

"No, it's really small. The sheriff has one full-time deputy, a couple of part-timers and several volunteers. Antonville is the only other town of any size. It's mostly farm country around here, but there're some families with real money."

"Your house is really big. Y'all must have money."

"The house used to be rooming house and then it was a bed-and-breakfast. Some trust company pays for the upkeep. A Salvatore company," Stefan explained.

"Oh."

Stefan drove to where the YMCA was located and told Josh that there was a nice work-out room and indoor pool.

"Do you go there?"

"No. We have gym equipment at the house."

"I didn't know that," Josh said. After a long moment of silence, he said, "My best bud Rusty said something weird about Mystic Falls once. He said there's a 'hell-hole' here and a lot of creatures hang around. Like ghosts, vampires, werewolves, shape-shifters, ghouls and zombies. You ever hear stories like that?"

Stefan raised an eyebrow and glanced at him. Oh,oh. What should he say?

A/N I know this chapter wasn't particularly exciting. Sorry. The next chapter has something unexpected happening, along with the consequences. Please give me some feedback, good or bad.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

A/N I'm pleased to see more people have read "The Kid". There's a little more action in this chapter. Hope you all like it.

"Vampires, Girls and Crossbows"

"Sure. Did you know that a coven of witches were burned somewhere here in Mystic County?" Stefan asked. "That was a long time ago, though. And an old church in the old cemetery was burned down a long time ago, too, and it's rumored there was a vampire or two in it. It's also rumored that fanatics burned the church because a couple of traitors during the War Between the States were in there. The truth might be that an altar candle started the fire. Who knows? You don't really believe in vampires and zombies, do you?"

"No, but wouldn't it be cool to meet one?"

"I don't know. It's said they suck your blood until you're dead," Stefan said as seriously as he could. "I guess if there were vampires here, there'd be dead bodies turning up all the time. Which they don't."

"I still think it would be cool to see a vampire some night. You know, just prowling around, red drool coming off his fangs and his eyes glowing in the dark. His clothes would be dirty because he'd have to come up from his coffin and out of the dirt."

"He'd probably stink, being dirty all the time and never taking a bath or changing his clothes. Imagine how nasty his breath would be from drinking blood and never brushing his teeth," Stefan said with enthusiasm.

"That's gross," Josh agreed, grinning. "I'm hungry. Let's stop for some pizza."

Stefan knew Mrs. Flowers tended to eat around seven in the evening. Josh would die of hunger before that, so Stefan took him into the Grill and they each had a Coke and shared a pizza.

Caroline Forbes was there and Stefan introduced the boy to her. He whispered to the kid, "Remember to look at her eyes now and them." He knew Caroline could hear his whisper, since she was a vampire.

She gave Josh a wide smile. She ignored the fact that he kept glancing at her ample chest. She was used to that and liked it. Flaunt what you got, she believed.

Back in the car, Josh ventured to ask Stefan if he and Caroline had ever had sex. A bit surprised, Stefan said no. He was not surprised when Josh asked if he had done so with Elena.

"You know it's not polite for a guy to kiss and tell," Stefan said evenly.

"I didn't ask if you'd kissed her. If she's your girl, I figure you kiss her all the time," Josh said.

"Kiss and tell doesn't mean just talk about kissing. While us guys like to boast, the girls, most of them, prefer to keep stuff a little more private," Stefan said. "They don't want to get a reputation. You know what I mean?"

"Are you saying you did or you didn't?"

"I'm saying either way, it's none of your damned business, dude."

"Yeah. Okay. She's hot. You're lucky," the boy said, lost in thought.

Stefan glanced at him as they approached the house. He wondered if the kid was sexually active. Josh had sort of indicated that he was, but that didn't mean it was the truth. Boys did lie and boast quite a bit.

"Their car is gone," Josh observed with disappointment. "Is Bonnie going with anyone?"

"Yes." Stefan had seen her with the boy named Jamie at the recent dance and figured they were together.

"Do you think she'd talk to me?"

"Of course, she'd talk to you. Would she date you? No. She's a senior." Stefan thought Josh was a good-looking boy. He looked to be a clean kid and he brushed his teeth. He had a good complexion for a teen, with only two pimples on his face. His clothes were not a mess, even though he had traveled for several hours, including hitchhiking and walking. His clothing and the Reebok shoes didn't look cheap.

"If I stay here long enough, I'll have to transfer to a school here."

"Probably," Stefan said. His hope was that the boy would soon go home to his father. It was too dangerous for him to stay in Mystic Falls and at the Salvatore house.

Stefan parked the car in the wide driveway at the house and he and Josh got out.

"You said you'd show me the engine," Josh said, impressed with the sporty car.

"Sure," Stefan said and in a moment, they were gazing at the machine that powered the car. Stefan was not a mechanic, but he knew a couple of things about the engine. One thing he pointed out was that the car was built before all the electronics had come along. The most modern thing in the vehicle was the CD player.

Stefan could not say that he had owned the Porsche 911 for a long time. Over 40 years old, it was older than he was, if he was eighteen, which he had told Josh he was. Instead, he told the boy it had belonged to his father, who had died five years ago.

Damon and Stefan had made up a scenario to tell people in which their mother had died when Stefan was five, almost six, and the boys had been raised by their father. This was true, but had happened a long time ago. They claimed that when their father died, Damon had become Stefan's legal guardian, which was not true, but served its purpose here in Mystic Falls. Only about a dozen people knew the true age of the brothers.

Josh was not into cars in a big way, but he was impressed with this classy red car. He was less impressed with the blue Camero, also parked in the driveway. It was an old muscle car, but he didn't know anything about them. Stefan didn't tell him anything about the Chevy, except that it was a classic, also, and it belonged to Damon.

Inside the house, they saw that Damon was on the computer in the study. Music blared from the stereo system. Stefan told the boy he was going to his room and he went upstairs. He wondered if Katherine had been given access to her things as she had requested. Probably so.

Josh eased into the study to look at things. He really hadn't bothered looking that closely earlier because his eyes had fallen on the piano. Now he noticed all kinds of things, mostly old things, heavy furniture, a ton of books on shelves, bottles and decanters of liquor on a cart and a display of old weaponry over the fireplace. The music that was playing didn't interest him. It was fairly modern rock, but not by Josh's standards.

The weaponry looked especially interesting. He liked a video game that had a lot of old weapons in it, swords, maces and crossbows. There was a crossbow on the wall. It looked real. Careful not to disturb the man at the computer, Josh picked up a wooden stepladder by one of the tall bookcases and moved it over to the fireplace, which had no fire in it at this time. He then carefully climbed up and looked closely at the crossbow. It looked rather old and scarred, but it was probably functional.

Seeing how it was attached to the wall, he found that he could easily remove it. He also noticed a short wooden arrow with it. Climbing down quietly from the ladder, he sat on the sofa and examined the two pieces. In the video he had seen how the crossbow was armed and he tried to duplicate this. In a minute he had figured it out and he had the bowstring drawn back and locked in place. He fit the short arrow into it. Really cool. He knew he couldn't fire it in the house, but maybe Stefan would show him how outdoors.

"_What _are you doing _now_?" came Damon's annoyed voice from over at the desk.

Startled, Josh stood up and turned around. His finger accidentally went to the trigger and he nudged it. In horror he saw the arrow zip toward the man and pierce Damon's left side as he stood up from the chair at the desk.

Damon gave a roar of rage and in a flash was in front of the boy and yanking the crossbow from his hands. He yelled curses at Josh as the boy shrank away from him.

Shocked by what had happened, Josh failed to register just how fast Damon had moved. Tears came to the boy's eyes and he wailed, "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to shoot you! Oh, God! I didn't mean it!"

Damon was furious and was about to strike the youth when the kid stumbled backward, tripped over the edge of an Oriental rug and fell to the floor. Stefan and Mrs. Flowers quickly appeared at the doorway, alarmed and wondering what had happened.

"He _shot_ me! The damned kid shot me with a crossbow bolt!" Damon yelled.

Stefan, who knew the bolt was wooden and a danger to his brother, came to Damon's side. "Where'd he get you?"

"Along my ribs. Pull it out, dammit," Damon demanded, lifting his left arm. In his other hand, he held the weapon.

Stefan saw the fletched end of the arrow. The narrow wooden tip was sticking out of the muscle back by the shoulder blade. He grabbed hold of the butt end and pulled. Damon could have done it, but he had to pretend he was seriously injured in front of Josh. He knew the wound was just through his skin and the muscle underneath. It hurt, but it would heal quickly. Through just pure luck, no real harm was done.

But Josh didn't know that. He was still on the floor, horrified at what he had done and very afraid that Damon would either beat him or call the sheriff. He'd be arrested and he'd be locked up as a juvenile offender. And his father would be called again. He lay there shaking, tears streaming down his face.

"You could have _killed _me!" Damon shouted at him, speaking the truth. "Are you _crazy_? Don't you know you shouldn't point a loaded weapon at someone?"

Josh couldn't say he didn't know it was loaded, because he himself had armed it.

"I'm sorry! I was just playing with it. Figuring out how to fit the arrow in. I didn't mean to fire it. I never meant to hurt you." He could see the red stain of blood on Damon's shirt.

"A weapon is a weapon. This is a potentially deadly weapon. I could be lying dead on the floor right now!" Damon fumed. "Do you understand that? Are you old enough to understand that really _dead_ is _very dead?" _ His tone was murderous.

"Yes, sir. I do understand," Josh managed to say. At the moment, he wished he himself were dead. Or invisible. Or back home.

"Damon, why don't I take you over to the Emergency Room so you can have your wound bandaged," Stefan said, wanting to get Damon away from the boy and to provide the treatment to the wound that the boy would expect.

Damon took the hint. He laid the crossbow on the nearby desk next to where Stefan had laid the bloody bolt. "Don't you _dare_ touch this thing again. Or any _other _weapon in this house. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir. Yes," Josh said, nodding vigorously. "Are you going to have me arrested?" He remembered that Damon was with the sheriff's office.

"I don't know yet. Probably not. Too much paper work; but you are on very thin ice, young man," Damon growled.

As Damon moved to the door to the hall, Mrs. Flowers handed him the kitchen towel she had in her hands. She knew he would heal quickly, but of course she didn't say anything. He pressed it to the bloody area of his shirt.

To Josh she said, "Go on up to your room and wash your face. And stay there until time for supper."

Damon and Stefan watched the boy get up and run up stairs and they heard the door close to his room. In a flash, they silently went up to Damon's own room, closed the door. They took care of cleaning blood from Damon's side. He had gauze and tape handy, which he usually used on the bite marks he put on women he took to his bed. He let Stefan tape some gauze over the two healed holes in his side. He put on a clean shirt and then examined the other shirt. It was ruined and he tossed it in the wastebasket. He knew he had come close to being killed, but as usual, he brushed that fact aside. He was okay. Angry, but okay.

"What are we going to do about that kid?" he fussed in a hushed voice to his brother.

"I think he's already had the crap scared out of him. Let it be. With luck, he'll decide this isn't a good place to live."

"Let's hope," Damon muttered. "We better take the Porsche out for a half hour in case he sees it there in the driveway and wonders why we didn't go to the hospital."

Stefan sighed and said, "I suppose so. He can't see the driveway from his room."

"He might go back downstairs or something."

"All right. Let's go." Stefan opened the bedroom door and looked down the hall. The door to the boy's room was closed, but they heard the toilet flush. They zipped down the stairs, went out to the car and drove to the center of town. They would deal further with Josh when they got back.

Josh, in his room, had gone first to the bathroom where he vomited the pizza and Coke. He stayed there for a while, sitting on the floor, shaking. He retched again, but his stomach was empty. He finally flushed the toilet, got up, washed his face and went into the bedroom.

He sat at the desk and opened his laptop. He IM'ed one of his two best friends, Rusty, and they talked for a few minutes. Josh told him that he was in Mystic Falls, visiting his aunt. He had met the two distant cousins, Stefan and Damon. He liked Stefan. He was afraid of Damon.

Then he confessed that he had accidentally shot Damon with a crossbow. He was terrified now that Damon, a sheriff's deputy, would haul him off to jail when he got back from the hospital. He admitted that the idea terrified him and was sure he would end up being sexually assaulted by older youths or men in jail.

"He's going to lock me up! I know it. I nearly _killed_ him. I can't believe it happened. Like when you read of kids fooling around with a gun and next thing, one of them is dead!

"I got to get out of here, Russ. I don't know where to go, but I can't stay here. The brothers will be back from the hospital soon and I better be gone. I can't tell Aunt Theo. She would try to stop me. I'll just throw my stuff in my backpack and sneak out of here. If I can get past Aunt Theo, I'll be free. I'll try to let you know where I'm going. You better say a prayer for me."

Josh did throw his few things into the backpack and then he snuck down the back stairs. He stood listening in case his aunt was in the kitchen, but he heard her humming in her room next to the kitchen. The door was closed. He then tiptoed to the back door, unlocked it and let himself out. He quietly closed the door and ran off the patio to the back yard. He headed for the woods to the left of the yard. He made it without his aunt, who was in the back corner bedroom, seeing him.

He had no idea where to go. While driving around with Stefan, he had seen patches of woods here and there with nice homes in between. He supposed if he got far enough away, he could hitchhike again. He would be stuck out in the night in a couple of hours, otherwise. He especially didn't want to be in the woods at night.

He could hardly believe his life had become a disaster. He had planned to become a soccer player, a professional, some day. Or a musician, if the little band proved to be good enough. Now he was a fugitive. He'd been caught riding in his buddy's "stolen" car, he'd run away, and now he'd shot a man with a crossbow. He'd _shot_ someone! How could things get worse?

A/N How indeed? A new incident awaits our boy. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Feel free to comment. I love reviews.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

A/N Even though I haven't gotten many reviews, there seem to be quite a few readers, so I'll try to post new chapters. Thank you to those who let me know you were looking forward to the adventures of Josh.

"A Hole In the Ground"

Josh was trotting through the woods, plowing through some underbrush, when the ground just opened up and he dropped into a hole. He fell about nine or ten feet and landed badly on one foot on a rock. Pain shot up his leg and he cried out. Sitting on the damp earth in the dim light, he uttered all the profanities he knew as tears of pain and frustration stung his eyes. On top of everything else, he was crying again! For the second time in less than two hours, tears were streaming down his face.

Damon and Stefan returned to the house and went their separate ways. Neither of them looked for Josh, whom they assumed was in his room. Mrs. Flowers didn't look for him either until she made supper. When it was ready, she went up the stairs and knocked on his door. He didn't answer, so she tried the doorknob. She looked inside and didn't see him. The room was dim, so she switched on the ceiling light.

"Josh?" she called again.

The door to the bathroom was open a crack, but the light was not on in there. Still, she went to the door and spoke his name again. When there was no response, she opened the door wide and looked. He could have been ignoring her.

Josh wasn't in there.

Returning to the bedroom she looked around and this time she noticed that none of his things were in the room!

She went down the hall and knocked on Damon's doorframe. The door was open. She spoke his name, but like in Josh's room, she found he wasn't there. The bathroom door was closed and she knocked. No one there either. She went downstairs and found Damon sitting on the couch in the study, sipping a drink and staring into the fire he had lit in the fireplace. Up above it, the crossbow was in its place again. The bolt was not there.

"Damon, I think Josh has run away again! His things are gone from his room," she said in a worried tone.

"Damn that kid!" Damon said. Good riddance, he thought. He set his drink aside and went out into the hall.

"Josh! If you can hear me, you damn well better answer me. Josh!" he bellowed.

Stefan, hearing the commotion, came clomping down the stairs. "What's going on?"

"Josh as flown the coop," Damon said. "Unless he's holed up somewhere in the house. You search upstairs. I'll do the basement. Mrs. Flowers, will you check the downstairs? Look in closets, too."

A search didn't turn up the youth.

"All right. An outdoor search is in order," Damon grumbled. "The damned kid could be sitting out on the swing ignoring us."

Damon and Stefan went outside and circled the house, calling the boy's name. They listened for a heartbeat or breathing, and they even sniffed for a decent scent. A couple of dogs had been in the yard, watering plants and trees, and covering other scents. A small herd of deer grazed just outside the woods south of the back yard. They bolted back in among the trees, but their presence covered Josh's scent. Stefan also searched the garage, shed and greenhouse. Damon looked in the cars in the driveway.

"His scent says he came out the back door, but we don't know which direction he went," Stefan said.

"A fresh scent? You had him out back earlier," Damon pointed out.

"It's fresher than that," Stefan assured him. "He could have gone into the woods before heading for the street so no one would see him walking around the house."

"He's gone. Darn," Mrs. Flowers said in a displeased tone. She put her hands on her hips and shook her head slightly.

The brothers could see that she was worried, but also annoyed at the boy. They couldn't blame her.

"I'll have to call his father. We thought Josh'd be safe here. Oh, dear."

"I'm going to call Liz Forbes," Damon said, pulling his cell phone from his pocket. He supposed Mrs. Flowers blamed him for the boy's need to escape. Well, he couldn't help that. It wasn't his fault that Josh had shot him. And how could he be blamed for shouting at the kid after that?

He talked to the sheriff, telling her that Josh was staying at the house, that he had done something to tick him, Damon, off. He'd yelled at the boy, and now he had run away.

"I think he's afraid of me," Damon admitted to the sheriff. "I don't want him arrested, Liz. But I'd like to get him back before he bums a ride to who-knows-where." He then gave a description of the boy and what he was wearing. "Oh, and Liz, he doesn't know about vampires."

"We better walk through the woods," Stefan said. "Although he's had plenty of time to get beyond it in any direction."

The patch of woods was bound by the street in front of the Salvatore house and a half mile to the west by the street the Mikaelson house sat on. North and south the patch thinned out around the lawns, gardens and small pastures of various houses. Still, there were plenty of trees and underbrush where deer and small animals lived

.

"All right. Stefan, you go south and I'll go north. Mrs. Flowers, you 'hold down the fort'. He just might come back or phone."

Stefan entered the woods to the left of the back yard. He was immediately distracted by the deer. He was hungry for blood and the deer were one of his main sources. He knew this small herd, knew the individual deer. There were three does and two bucks, one of them quite young.

Believing that Josh was long gone, Stefan allowed himself to concentrate on the deer. He mentally broadcast a feeling of trust and calm. He aimed it at the herd in general, but at one doe in particular. He had fed from her many times now, but not day after day. He used different individuals in a sort of rotation. He also fed on rabbits, but his doing so killed them.

In no time he was kneeling on the leaves on the ground and had his arms around the neck of a doe, his fangs in her neck. He usually tapped into the big vein on the underside of the neck and he did so now. Her blood was hot and delicious, but it didn't have the kick of human blood. It didn't have the sexual punch human blood did, either. But, on the other hand, it quenched his thirst and nourished his body.

Before letting go of the animal, he licked the blood from her hair. Someone might spot her with dried blood on her neck. It would be considered the sign of an animal attack _or_ a vampire attack. As the doe moved to rejoin her companions, Stefan licked his lips and wiped around his mouth and his chin with a hand. He then licked his hand. Neatness counts.

He then continued to search the woods, heading a little toward the road where the Mikaelsons lived. He called out a few times, but got no answer. He then circled back, coming closer to the Lockwood estate south of the Salvatore house. He went to the stairs in the woods that led down to a dungeon of sorts. He knew it was here that Tyler

Lockwood had chained himself to fight getting loose on the nights of a full moon. Now a vampire/werewolf hybrid, Tyler no longer had to change.

There was no sign or scent here of Josh, so Stefan moved on. An owl in a tree screeched down at him as he moved back toward his own house. He missed the hole in the ground by about fifty yards. The night breeze was blowing any scent of Josh the other way. Neither he nor Josh were calling out at the time.

When he rejoined Damon on his own back patio, Damon asked, "Did you check the cave behind the Lockwoods?"

"No. I'm not sure where the entrance is. Besides, how would Josh find it in the dark?" Although there was still some dusk light in the sky, in the woods, it was dark now.

"Maybe he has a flashlight. I don't know. I suppose it's unlikely he'd stumble onto it anyway."

"I bet someone in a car picked him up right on our street," Stefan said. "He's nowhere around here."

They went back into the house where Mrs. Flowers sat at the kitchen table looking very worried.

"No sign of him?" she asked.

"No," Damon said, shaking his head.

"All right. I put off calling his father, but now I definitely have to," she said.

Josh continued to sit on the cold dirt in the hole. He leaned against some rocks right beside him. He guessed the rocks had been up where the hole was now and had caved in. He kept listening for animals in the cave. Although he couldn't see into the dark interior, he could hear water dripping and it echoed. To him that meant he was in a cave system. He didn't dare wander around in a dark cave. Best to stay near the air hole above him. It was his best chance to hear anyone call his name, for surely they would look for him. Of course they would.

A/N I hope you liked this chapter. I'm working on the next one. Josh will not be alone in the dark cave.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

A/N Thanks to my readers. I appreciate that. I could use some feedback, though.

"Not Alone in the Cave"

He kept listening for someone calling him, but all he heard was the harsh cry of a screech owl. His imagination pictured a banshee out there or a zombie. He had stopped shedding tears, although his ankle throbbed painfully. He felt the skin of his ankle and knew it was swelling. He thought he felt an unusual bump on the outside edge. A broken bone, he guessed. Just great!

He had no phone, but he did take his laptop out of his backpack. He opened it and turned it on. Its glow was wonderful in the dim light as evening came on, but he soon learned that he got no reception down in the hole. It was a big disappointment. To save the laptop's power, he put it on standby.

He was not alone in the cave. It turned out that bats had taken up residency after the hole had been opened. Their high squeaks and fluttering wings scared him as they took off into the dusk, but after they had gone, he settled down.

He suspected that the strong smell in the cave came from the bat droppings or urine. Now and then the smell got stronger and he realized that there was a breeze blowing through the cave and out the hole above him. He had no way of knowing how far away the other entrance was. Trying to find it in the blackness of the cave, where there could be deep pools of water, and with a broken ankle, did not seem like a smart thing to do. Surely someone would search for him and find him sooner or later.

To distract himself from the situation he dug out his iPod and listened to some music. Then he thought that it wasn't a good idea. If someone was walking through the woods yelling his name, he wouldn't hear it. With a sigh, he put the iPod away.

After a while, he was hungry. He wished he hadn't thrown up the pizza. He fished around in his backpack and found the Snickers bar he knew he had. He ate it slowly, making it last. Then he was thirsty. The sound of the dripping water taunted him. To get his mind off food and water, he let him mind wander to the hour he had spent with Stefan. It had been great. He wished Stefan was his big brother or at least an older friend back in Richmond.

As for Damon, he didn't even want to think about him and what had happened. Still, the images came to the forefront of his mind. The arrow zipping from the crossbow right at Damon. The man's rage. Man, he had moved fast to rip the weapon out of Josh's hands! And then the sickening view of Stefan pulling the arrow out, causing a spurt of blood to stain the side of Damon's shirt.

A shiver ran through Josh. It pulled on his ankle and he gave a yelp at the added pain. What would have happened if he had killed Damon? It would have been a tragedy, for sure. Stefan would have been standing there looking at his dead brother. Aunt Theo would have probably fainted. No, she was a nurse. She would have tried to save Damon. As for Josh himself, his life would have been over in a different way. His parents would have been so shocked that their son was a murderer. Would they have disowned him? Turned their backs on him? Would he have spent the rest of his life in prison?

Stefan and Damon drove into town and walked around for just a few minutes. They looked into the Grill, but Josh hadn't been there. They even went to the Y to see if he had gone there, but he hadn't. They drove out to the highway were there were other places to eat and an arcade, but no Josh. Further down the highway toward Charlottesville there was a mall. They went there and walked around, quickly looking here and there. Then they went home.

Damon called Liz Forbes, but she and her deputy had not found the boy while driving the roads in and near town. They could only guess that he had managed to get a ride out of town with someone. They could only hope that no harm came to Josh. Damon was furious. Stefan was worried.

Down in the cave, Josh drew his jacket tight around his chest. He was cold. The night air seemed to be coming down from above now and it was chillier than the air in the cave. Why hadn't anyone come searching for him? Didn't they realize that he wasn't in his room? It was way past supper time now. Even if Damon didn't care where he was, Aunt Theo and Stefan would care. They would look for him, wouldn't they?

He turned the laptop back on, relishing the familiar light. He looked at the time. Where were the searchers? Had they given up looking for him already? That was a depressing thought. Would they search for him again in the morning? He hated the thought of being stuck in the cold, black cave for the whole night, his ankle and foot throbbing. Besides the bats, who knew what else lived in the cave? What creatures were

back in the dark watching him? A shudder ran through him again.

After a while, he lifted the laptop and turned it to the right and to the left. He spotted a stick, a small branch nearby. It was about four feet long. An idea came to mind. He couldn't climb out of the hole even if he stood on some of the rocks next to him. But if he could lift his laptop up there with music blaring, perhaps someone would see its light or hear the music. How deep in the woods was he really? He could be close to someone's house!

How could he attach the laptop to a four-foot stick? His belt? Maybe. He undid his belt and pulled it from his jeans. He moved painfully to reach the stick. It seemed fairly sturdy, enough to support the weight of the small laptop. He left the small twigs in place because they could help support the laptop. After several frustrating attempts, he managed to secure the computer near the top of the stick. He set it to where he had good rock music and then slowly lifted it up toward the hole.

He also had to stand up, which he did very carefully. He had to put some weight on his broken ankle and the pain screamed up at him. He gritted his teeth, groaned and managed to stand. His leg didn't collapse under him, but it felt unstable. Bearing the pain, he reached higher and higher. Music now blared out into the night. He let it run for several minutes.

Finally, he had to lower it because his arms were tired and because he couldn't take the pain in his ankle any more. In a moment, he was sitting down again. He turned the laptop back to silent standby. He sat with tears of pain and frustration running down his face.

"Please, God, send someone to find me," he prayed in a whisper.

A few minutes later, he was startled by the falling of some dirt into the hole and onto his head. Was someone up there or was it a wild animal? What if there really were vampires or zombies out there? Were there wolves or bears in this rural part of Virginia?

His senses became acute as he listened and looked up. He could see stars high in the dark sky. He could hear movement, rustling of the dried leaves on the ground up there. If it was a bear, surely it wouldn't jump down in the hole. Wouldn't it be smart enough to know it could get trapped? On the other hand, maybe it knew another way out of the cave.

Regardless of the danger, Josh didn't think he should take off into the black unknown of the cave. He reached out for the stick and in the darkness undid the belt from the laptop. He didn't know if a stout stick was any good against a bear. Or a vampire. Still, it made him feel better to have something in his hands.

Staring upward again as more dirt fell on him, he saw a black form obliterate some of the stars. With pounding heart, he held the stick up in front of him. He wasn't going to die without a fight.

"Hello. What are you doing down there?" came a woman's voice.

Josh's heart skipped a beat in surprise and then relief. "I fell down the hole! I hurt my ankle and I can't get out of here! Please go for help."

To his amazement, the woman jumped down into the hole, landing lightly beside him. More dirt cascaded down onto his head and shoulders.

"Why'd you do that? Now we're both trapped in here!" he gasped.

"No. I know how to get out," she said.

Josh activated the laptop so he could see her and was shocked to see it was the woman Katherine. He recognized both her face and her chest …uh… her clothes.

"How did you find me? Are people looking for me yet?"

"I heard the music and came to see who was out in the woods at this hour," Katherine said, her tone really friendly. She was smiling as she looked the boy over. Food, she thought. As an "old" vampire, she didn't really need blood very often, certainly not daily. However, she was hungry. And here sat an easy meal.

"I don't know who is looking for you. No one is out there. I was just cutting through the woods," she told the boy.

"Oh. I can't believe they haven't found out I'm not in the house anymore," Josh said, hurt by this idea.

"They probably know. Josh, is it?"

"Yes. Josh Salvatore. You live in the house, too?"

"Only sometimes. I travel a lot. Where were you going?"

"No where. Anywhere. I shot Damon."

"What? Did you kill him?" Katherine asked, alarmed. Shooting Damon with a gun wouldn't kill him, she knew.

"No, but I nearly did," Josh said with guilt. "I was just fooling around with a crossbow and I accidentally shot him in the side. I guess he wasn't hurt bad, but still."

Knowing the bolt might have been wooden, Katherine imagined Damon had probably been really angry over the act that was dangerous to him.

"You don't fool around with weapons. Even really old ones can kill," she lectured.

Josh didn't like to be lectured to when he already had been screamed at, but he just nodded.

"Look at me, Josh," Katherine said calmly. She couldn't wait any more to taste his blood. Her stomach gurgled with hunger. "What color do you think my eyes are?" She didn't know if he was on vervain, but if she could compel him, she would know.

Josh tried to see what color her eyes were in the light of the laptop. They were dark. He was quite sure they were dark brown like Stefan's girlfriend's eyes. He felt a hint of dizziness as her voice came soothingly to him. Something about not being afraid, that she was going to give him a little kiss, a little bite on his neck, nothing serious. A friendly nip, because he was such a handsome young man and a nice person.

On her knees in the dim light, she leaned close and he didn't move away. He wasn't afraid. Why should he be afraid? He loved the idea that the pretty Katherine wanted to give him a little kiss. A kiss on the lips would have been nicer, he thought, but on his neck was all right. He felt her move the collar of his jacket away from his neck. She brushed away most of the dirt that had worked its way under his collar.

Katherine did not allow her face to change while he could see it. Instead, she leaned close and let her lips touch his smooth skin. Without raising her head, she let the fangs down. She didn't want him to see her changes.

Her tongue tip touched him, tasted him as her hands held his sides. He wasn't moving. Good. Carefully, she nicked the skin and he jumped just a little. Blood oozed from the small punctures and she licked it up eagerly. Tasty. No booze. No drugs. A vague hint of cooked garlic, perhaps from pizza or spaghetti. Young testosterone, normal for a kid his age.

The usual blood thrill ran through her as she swallowed, a thrill that was partly sexual. She never had real sex with young teens, although some of them these days were bigger than she was. She never turned them into vampires. She never killed a teenaged girl or boy, but she was not above tasting their blood.

He felt her lips touch him and then there was the small sting of her bite. He felt funny and wasn't sure what she was doing. Was she licking his skin? Was he bleeding where she had nipped him?

He knew he was sexually aroused; he couldn't help it with her this close. He could smell some faint scent. Shampoo, maybe. Her breasts were touching him a little; her hands were on his shoulders; she definitely was licking his neck. It was too much for him to take without a reaction.

Katherine knew it. She licked the little bit of blood from his skin, knowing her saliva would seal the wounds. She let her vampire visage fade, and then she moved back from the boy.

"How was that?" she asked with a smile, pleased with herself. It didn't take much blood to satisfy her, although under some circumstances, she took quite a bit.

Josh was unable to answer because he had such mixed emotions. Totally confused, he mumbled, "Cool." He was also embarrassed by his reaction, but Katherine pretended not to notice. He was sure that she knew.

He thought, Rusty, wait 'til you hear about this! Then he thought about what Stefan had said about kissing and telling. And then he decided to hell with what Stefan said, Rusty needed to hear about this!

Katherine's voice came softly to him and he looked at her eyes. "You won't tell anyone that I kissed and bit you. It's our secret," she said and he nodded as she adjusted his collar.

Okay, Rusty is not going to know about this, he decided.

"Now, I suppose we need to get out of here. Get your stuff together in your backpack," she said.

Josh did as he was told. "How are we going to get out of here?"

"I'm a girl, but I'm pretty strong. I'm going to hold you on my shoulders. You reach up toward the opening and I'm going to shove you up to the edge up there. Okay?"

"I'm pretty big and heavy. You're not very tall," Josh said as she helped him to stand on one foot. He noticed that he was a speck shorted than she was. He hadn't really had any good growth spurts yet. He didn't want to be a basketball player, but a little taller would be nice. At least as tall as his five feet nine inch father.

"I'm not a weakling, darling. I work out regularly," she lied. "Okay, I'm going to lift you." Lifting him was easy for Katherine, but she grunted and groaned as if it was hard work. With Josh holding onto the rocky edge above her, he balanced on her shoulders with little weight on his damaged ankle. Although it was really painful, it did support him a bit.

Katherine then gave the boy a good boost that launched him up well onto the edge of the hole. He grabbed onto a nearby bush and hauled himself up onto solid ground. Breathing hard with pain and effort, he turned around on his knees and looked back down. He caught the backpack when Katherine tossed it to him.

"Okay," she said. "I'm going to jump up. I'm pretty good at that. Trampoline workouts, you know. Then you pull me the rest of the way. Here I come."

She could have leaped out of the hole easily, but she didn't. Instead, she got most of the way up and let Josh pull her the rest of the way. She knew it made him feel good to have some control in their escape. A manly effort to help the weaker woman.

Josh stood up, grinning. He forgot he couldn't put his full weight on his foot and stepped right down on it. He screamed and fell and almost passed out. It hurt worse than when he had first broken it. To add insult to injury, he lost control of his bladder.

"No!" he wailed, totally humiliated. "I just peed in my pants. What _more_ can happen?"

"Don't even ask that, Josh," Katherine warned.

Josh was embarrassed to be sobbing in front of her, but his ankle was agony. He had wet pants and had tears on his face. He felt like such a baby. And now she was going to help him get back to the Salvatore house where they would see his shame. All the good feeling he had had when she kissed and bit him had evaporated.

Katherine took her cell phone from her pocket and phoned Damon.

"Are you missing a teenager?" she asked him.

"Yeah. You got one?"

"I do. He fell down a hole out here in the woods. I guess it's that same hole Elijah made down to the cave and put Elena in. Know where I mean?"

"Yeah. Stefan searched out there. He must have missed it."

"Josh has a broken ankle. How about you come out here and carry him back. I'm a girl. I can't carry him."

She heard Damon snort. He knew she could easily carry the boy. He also knew she shouldn't reveal her real strength. He didn't want her to.

"I'll be there in a few minutes," he said.

A/N Hope you liked this chapter. I'm trying to keep Katherine in character. Am I doing it? Comments, please.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

A/N I want to thank the few of you who are reading this story. I might not continue it because I'm not getting feedback. I don't know if readers are finding the story interesting or really boring. I have more chapters, but please let me know if I should publish them or quit.

"

Both Damon and Stefan came to the place where Josh and Katherine sat together on the ground, the laptop providing them light as if it were a campfire.

"Here they come," Josh said, eyeing the two men nervously, but also with relief.

"I should whip your ass," Damon growled at the boy.

"I'm sorry. Everything I do turns out wrong," Josh said, feeling defeated.

"So, you broke your ankle?" Damon asked gruffly.

"Yeah. I can't really stand on it and it's all puffed up."

Damon and Stefan both knelt down and examined the swollen ankle. They didn't remove his sneaker.

"Something is broken and the ankle is probably twisted and torn," Damon said without pity.

He stood up. He wasn't going to carry the boy back to the house. He could have, but he was supposed to be injured and in pain.

Stefan reached down and helped Josh stand up on one foot.

"Put your arm around my neck and I'll pick you up," Stefan said.

"I…I peed my pants. I'll get you wet," Josh admitted, embarrassed.

"I don't care," Stefan said. "Same thing has happened to me a couple of times."

In a moment he had the boy in his arms. Josh groaned at the pain in his leg caused by all the movement, but then he calmed down.

"I thought I'd be stuck in that cave all night. Thank God Katherine found me," he said to Stefan.

Katherine, carrying his backpack, smiled at him in the starlight. "I'm glad I found you, too, kiddo." They looked at each other, smiled and said no more. Josh felt a little better.

Damon, walking ahead of them, didn't see the smile. Stefan, watching were he was walking, didn't either.

They came to the back patio, which was lit, and to the back door. Katherine had to stop. She held out the backpack to Damon, who took it.

"Thanks for helping the kid," he said to her.

"No problem. My pleasure, in fact. Good luck with that ankle, Josh," she said and she winked at him.

He grinned at her and said, "Thank you, Katherine. You're my new bud."

Inside the kitchen, Stefan set Josh down where he could sit at the table.

Mrs. Flowers hovered around, very concerned, but very relieved. Like the two fellows, she wanted to reprimand Josh, but she held back. He was pale, in pain, dirty and he smelled. She could tell by the streaks on his face that he had shed tears.

They all looked at his ankle as he pulled up the leg of his jeans. He wasn't wearing socks, so it was easy to see the swelling of the right ankle.

"He needs to go to the hospital," Mrs. Flowers said, shaking her head. "I'll put an ice pack on it, but it's already swollen." She went to the refrigerator to get ice.

"I guess I need a cast," Josh said, staring at the malformed joint.

"It may need more than that. Maybe even surgery," the aunt said.

"I don't want surgery!"

"It may be necessary. You don't want to end up with a crippled leg," his aunt said as she handed ice wrapped in a towel to Stefan, who held it gently against the ankle.

"Oh, God," Josh muttered. "Before we go, could I have a drink of water? I am _so _thirsty. And I wish I could change clothes. I had an accident. I didn't bring more jeans when I left home."

"No water, Josh," his aunt the retired nurse said. "If you need surgery, you don't want food and water in your stomach."

"I don't know if my jeans will fit you, Josh," Stefan said. He was slim in the hips, but he was not as narrow as the boy. However, the jeans were skinny-legged. "You can try on a pair if you want. But you know, people who end up in the emergency rooms at hospitals often arrive there dirty, wet, bloody and soiled from 'accidents'. The doctors often cut their clothes off. So don't worry about how you look. If they cut your pants off, we'll get you some new ones. I promise."

Josh looked from Stefan to Damon to Mrs. Flowers, who nodded.

"I'm sorry to cause all this trouble," he said nodding. He looked at Damon and asked, "Is your wound okay?"

"It's fine. A flesh wound, as they say. It'll heal quickly," Damon assured him.

"That's good. I can't believe that happened."

"Stuff happens," Damon said, rolling is eyes.

Stefan went with Josh and Mrs. Flowers in her car to the hospital. They put a folded blanket on the back seat for Josh to sit on and he propped his foot up on the seat. Stefan rode beside the lady driver and directed the best way to reach the facility. He also called the sheriff to let her know they had found Josh. He learned that Damon had already notified her.

The emergency room was fairly quiet and Josh got right into an examination room. Mrs. Flowers gave the information to the woman at the desk. She also phoned Josh's father to let him know what had happened, that Josh was safe, and that he was in the hospital. The man was both relieved and angry. He gave the hospital permission for Josh to have surgery if needed. He gave the necessary insurance information.

After an examination and X-rays, it was decided that Josh needed surgery for the fracture, which was of the lower end of the fibula bone. The ankle and foot were also sprained. Josh was afraid of having to have surgery, but both his aunt and Stefan gave him encouragement, although Stefan just stood by the cubicle curtain. From that angle, he didn't notice the two little wounds on the boy's neck. For the most part, he stayed in the waiting area.

So no one noticed the tiny bite marks Katherine had left low on his neck until he was in the operating room. Along with the rest of the surgical team, both an anesthesia doctor and an anesthesia nurse took care of him. That nurse was a young woman named Kaitlyn Fell. She knew a vampire bite when she saw one, even one as slight as this one. Josh had been bitten. She wasn't sure, but she thought the distance between the fang marks was too narrow to be that of a male. He had been bitten by a female and the marks were very fresh. She said nothing about it.

Josh' jeans had been removed without them being cut. Because of the time needed to do the surgery and for his recovery, Mrs. Flowers and Stefan drove home and she laundered Josh's clothes. In fact, she told Stefan to change his clothes, too, and she washed them with Josh's.

"In the morning I'll go buy him another pair of pants, some underwear and another shirt," Stefan said, writing down the sizes of the clothing. "He needs more than one set. I wonder if he'll have a cast. Maybe some looser shorts would be better than jeans. I'll check it out."

"That's generous of you, Stefan," the woman said. She was weary. "I never imagined having Josh stay at the house for a couple of days would turn into such a disaster. I can't believe he shot Damon. Am I right in believing that he truly could have killed Damon?" She hadn't mentioned it until now. It had really been weighing on her mind.

"Yes," Stefan said.

She leaned her hands on the washing machine and shook her head. Damon had lived over one hundred and fifty years, and in one afternoon her nephew had nearly ended his life.

"Don't dwell on it, Mrs. Flowers," Stefan said. "Our lives are always in danger. It's the way it is. A period of tranquility is rare. Let me know when you're ready to go back to the hospital."

Stefan found Damon in his room on his bed, reading a book. He gave Damon a report on the boy.

"If he stays in the hospital overnight and most of tomorrow, I guess we'll be safe," Damon said with a snort.

A small smile touched Stefan's lips.

As it turned out, Mrs. Flowers got a call on her cell phone from the surgeon. Josh was doing fine and was sleeping. He was going to stay overnight so they could keep an eye on his foot. He would likely be discharged around mid morning the next day. Neither Stefan nor Mrs. Flowers went back to the hospital that Friday night.

At the hospital the next morning, Josh was sore, but impatient to get discharged. He was given instructions on how to use crutches. He needed to be able to go up stairs without falling or putting much weight on his bad foot. A therapist helped him practice. The doctor told him that the sprain might actually take longer to heal than the bone fracture. That wasn't good news to the active boy who was particularly fond of playing soccer. If he went back home and to his school, he wouldn't be able to play any of the sports.

Mrs. Flowers showed up to take him home. She brought his laundered clothes, plus a pair of khaki shorts that belonged to Stefan. She waited outside his room for him to dress. It was lucky that she had brought the bigger, looser shorts, because his jeans were narrow-legged and he was not able to get them on over his foot. He didn't have a plaster cast on his foot and ankle, but it was bandaged and encased in a soft "boot" strapped around the foot and ankle. He wasn't pleased with the shorts, but they really were not that different from a pair of cargo shorts he owned. Finally, he was ready to go.

"My dad called me this morning," he told Mrs. Flowers as a nurse pushed him in a wheelchair toward the front entrance.

"I'm glad he did. He was worried about you."

"He's still really pissed at me. He didn't say it, but I could tell."

"Not surprising, I would imagine. But he's glad you're all right now."

At the house, they found both Damon and Stefan waiting on the porch, watching as Josh made his way on the crutches.

"You survived, I see," Damon said, his tone a bit snarky.

"Yes, sir. I guess you're stuck with me again." Josh found that he was less afraid of the dark-haired Salvatore. After all, the man hadn't had him arrested after the crossbow incident. And he had helped search for him, according to Aunt Theo.

"Can you go up the stairs?" Stefan asked. "If not, one of us can help you."

"Yeah," Damon said. "We don't want you tumbling down the stairs and breaking something else."

"They let me practice going up and down stairs. I'll try not to fall," Josh assured them as he managed the couple of steps to the front porch easily enough.

"Head for the kitchen, dear," Mrs. Flowers said. "It's almost lunch time and I'm sure you're hungry."

"I'm starving," Josh said and he gladly headed down the hall.

"I did a little shopping this morning," Stefan said to the boy, who settled on a chair at the kitchen table. "You can try on the stuff and see if it fits. Especially the shorts. We need to know you can get them on."

"You shopped for me? Thanks, Stefan. That really rocks!" Josh said, impressed.

"Does your ankle hurt much?" Mrs. Flowers asked. "I have the pain pills for you if you need them."

"Yeah, it hurts. Throbs, like. I could use a pill," Josh said. He watched his aunt take a pill container from her purse, shake out a pill and then get him a glass of water. He swallowed the pill and hoped it worked fairly quickly. Then, hungry, he watched her make grilled cheese sandwiches for everyone and heat up soup for herself and him. The brothers ate only the sandwiches.

"You guys don't eat much," Josh observed.

"We sometimes pig out," Damon said. "But we like to keep that ripped look." He patted his toned abdomen.

"I guess y'all work out. Stefan said there's a gym here."

"Some," Damon said, although he rarely used the equipment. He couldn't tell the boy that being a vampire helped him maintain his physique. He also couldn't tell him that he consumed blood as food and that he had had two bags of it with breakfast.

Stefan didn't say anything about the fact that he had had deer blood for breakfast. He tended to use the gym equipment more than Damon did, sometimes almost daily for a few minutes. It added to his muscle power, which he wasn't augmenting with human blood.

After lunch, Stefan showed the boy the rec room, with its exercise machines and pool table and dart board. There was an old fashioned pinball machine and the equipment necessary to play Wii games. All this impressed Josh, but he didn't feel well enough to try any of it. He thought he was unusually weary and his aunt told him that it was because of the surgery and anesthesia he had had. Also, the pain medication made him a little sleepy.

Both Mrs. Flowers and Stefan went upstairs with Josh, making sure he didn't lose his balance and fall down the stairs. Stefan showed him the few clothes he had bought, which Josh found acceptable. He wished he could put on long pants, but he couldn't unless he cut the right pant leg way up the side.

Josh was still dirty from his time in the cave. He had used a wash cloth on his face and arms while in the hospital, but his hair especially was dirty. He didn't care. He wasn't interested in cleaning up right now. He just wanted to rest and give the pill time to ease his pain.

The two older people left him alone, although they left the bedroom door open. He lay on the bed with his laptop, which he used to contact his friend Rusty. Handling the laptop made him think of Katherine and the two of them sitting in the cave, talking . Thoughts of Katherine popped into his head frequently. They were often risqué thoughts, not uncommon for a youth his age. In a short while, he turned off the laptop and fell asleep thinking of her and the biting kiss she had given him.

He dreamed he was down in the hole again and Katherine was with him. She had brought a deck of cards and they started to play by the light of his laptop. They were playing poker, but he ran out of money as he lost to her. She suggested they continue by making the game strip poker. He liked that idea a lot.

She was the first to lose a hand and she took off the low-cut camisole top that she was wearing. She took it off slowly, a little at a time, teasing him. He was surprised to see that she had a bra on, because he could have sworn she had not been wearing one. Now he saw that the fabric was very thin and lacy and that was why her nipples showed.

On a dare, he and Rusty had boldly walked through a Victoria's Secret store at the mall one time, looking at the sexy lingerie, and he had seen some like Katherine was wearing. The visit to the store had been short because a saleslady had chased them out, especially after Rusty had a giggle fit. Josh had been embarrassed, but the venture had been worth it. Something similar had happened when they had looked at the flimsy, lacy products in the J.C. Penney's store.

The next hand of poker Josh lost. He was too distracted by the two breasts to concentrate. He started to unbutton his shirt, but Katherine reached over and slowly did it for him. She slipped the sleeves off his arms so that he sat there bare-chested. She looked him over and he wished he had a bigger chest, better muscles. He should work out more, but his body was not yet making sufficient hormones to make him taller or to build big muscles. He and his friends had been warned not to take steroids, but he knew a couple of older boys who did take them because they were into body building or football.

The boys at school who were around his age were of many sizes, some built like he was, many taller and more slender, some built like football linemen and a couple well over six feet.

The game progressed and Katherine lost the next hand. She stood up and removed her short skirt. Underneath, she had panties just like in Victoria's Secret. They barely hid her most private parts. Josh knew many girls did a "bikini shave" and he guessed that Katherine did, too.

This sort of activity was getting him excited, of course. The private part of his body had developed some size faster than his upper body. At least something was maturing …

A noise forced him to come out of the dream. Groggy, he looked up to see Damon standing by his bed looking at him. His fear of Damon sent a shot of adrenaline through his body and he became alert.

"What?" he asked, nervously. He became aware that he had his hand down at his crotch and he was aroused. He didn't know whether he should move his hand away or keep it covering him. The shorts didn't hide his condition at all.

"Just checking up on you," Damon said, raising his eyebrows. "Having a good dream, I see." He rolled his eyes.

"I … I guess so," Josh stammered. Couldn't he even take a nap without someone just walking in on him?

A/N I guess this isn't a very exciting chapter. Sorry. I have more misadventures for Josh, but as I said earlier, I won't bother to post the chapters if folks are finding the story boring. Please let me know.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

A/N Thanks to those of you who are continuing to read this story. I'll write and post some more chapters.

"Did She Bite You?"

"You've been asleep for three hours and I thought I'd just look in on you," Damon said.

"Three hours? I can't believe it," Josh said. He glanced at his wristwatch. Yes, three hours. Daring himself to ask, he put forth an important question. "Damon, who is Katherine?"

"Were you dreaming about her? She can really turn a guy on ," Damon said with a chuckle and a crooked smile.

"I was," Josh admitted, embarrassed, but he realized Damon understood what she could do to a fellow. "Does she live here? Is that why she wanted to come in the house yesterday?"

"She sometimes stays here," Damon admitted. It didn't take any imagination on his part to know Josh was smitten with her. She had even found him and saved him from the cave.

"Why wouldn't you let her in?"

"Because I was mad at her," Damon said. This was a lie. He hadn't been really mad at Katherine. He just didn't trust her to be in the house with Mrs. Flowers and Josh there. It seemed now that she had bewitched Josh anyway.

"Oh. But you let her get her stuff?" It seemed to Josh that barring her from her things was not fair.

"Yeah, I did. Look, kid, Katherine is older than she looks. She can be a mean tease. She likes to get guys all turned on, but that doesn't mean she's going to let you … you know. Go ahead and think about her and dream about her all you want, but don't expect anything from her. Okay?"

"Okay," Josh said. He sort of wanted to tell Damon that he was wrong, that Katherine had kissed him, but he found himself unable to mention it. Katherine had made him promise that it was their secret.

Josh didn't know that she had compelled him to keep the secret. However, he reached up without thinking, and touched the spot low on his neck where Katherine had bitten him. Damon saw this move and knew what it meant. He moved closer to the boy and reached out toward Josh's shoulder. The boy quickly moved out of reach on the bed, a look of alarm on his face.

"Josh, did Katherine kiss your neck? Nibble on your neck? Bite you?" Damon asked carefully.

Josh shook his head. "No. Why would she do that?"

Damon was sure the boy was lying. Dammit, Katherine! The boy was looking at Damon intently, willing him to believe. Damon looked intently right back, willing him to tell.

"Tell me if Katherine nibbled on your neck or bit you, Josh," he said in a steady compelling tone.

Josh stared at Damon and a fearful and confused look came to his face. He couldn't tell because Katherine had compelled him not to. And yet, Damon's power was pulling on him to tell. The boy's lips moved, but no sound came out except a hiss.

Damon realized the reason Josh couldn't say anything. Damn you, Katherine! he thought again. "It's all right, Josh. Forget it. It's none of my business. Okay?"

Josh relaxed with relief. Why had that been so hard? Something wasn't right about that. He'd almost wanted to tell Damon, to boast to Damon, to defend Katherine, but he had been totally unable to do so.

However, he was able to speak his mind another way. "I like her, Mr. Sal … Damon. She's nice to me. She, like, _listens_ to me when I talk. She was great about getting me out of the hole."

"I didn't say she couldn't be a nice person. When she wants to be. I said she can take advantage and be a tease. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir," Josh said. No matter what Damon said, he liked Katherine, even if she was just playing with his feelings. But he really was sure that she liked him.

"You take it easy until supper time. Or are you hungry now?" Damon asked in a neutral tone.

"I could use some chips or cookies," Josh said, hopefully.

"I'll tell Mrs. Flowers to bring you something," Damon said and he left the room, leaving the door open. He had to prevent Katherine from biting the boy! It wasn't right.

Down in the kitchen, he looked for the boy's aunt. She wasn't there. The door to her bedroom was open, but she wasn't there. In a couple of minutes, he found her in the living room, dusting a couple of fine porcelain figurines.

"Mrs. Flowers, we need to start Josh on vervain. I'm concerned about him with Katherine and other vamps around," he told her.

"All right. I'll make some tea with it in it. He doesn't like tea, so I'll tell him it's herbs that will speed his healing. And I'll make sure it's sweet."

"Good. Do it right away. He's hungry and wants some chips to nibble on."

"I wish he wouldn't eat before supper."

"At his age, he can eat all day," Damon chuckled.

When he was a teenager, he had lived with his father and his little brother. They had had a cook who knew what boys liked and she had always had things for them to nibble on. It was a wonder they had not put on a lot of weight, but they hadn't. For one thing, they had been very active. In addition, their genetics didn't lean toward gaining weight. However, their father had been putting on weight during the last six years of his life and he had developed gout. He had been eating too well and drinking way too much.

Mrs. Flowers did as she had promised. She made a cup of tea, brewed with some vervain leaves in it. She then took this and a bag of potato chips up to Josh's bedroom. She found the boy on his bed with his laptop.

"Josh, I know you don't like tea, but this is special herbal tea and it will help reduce the swelling in your ankle. So, please drink it down for me," she said.

Josh smelled it and made a face. Still, if it would help his ankle, he would take it. He forced himself to swallow quite a bit, while his aunt opened the bag of chips. He quickly grabbed some chips to cover the odd flavor of the tea. When the woman remained watching him, he dutifully swallowed the rest of the "medicine."

"Would you like a soda, too?" she asked and Josh nodded. She went to get one for him, relieved that he had drunk the tea. When she met Damon downstairs, she reported to him.

"Good," Damon said, giving a nod.

"How much of a danger is Katherine, especially if she continues to use the room downstairs?"

"She could take advantage of him. She can twist guys around her little finger faster than you can blink an eye," he said.

"Would she bite him? Take his blood?"

"I'd like to say 'no,' but I think she would. Not much, but a taste. It would have quite an affect on Josh at his age. Hell, at any age," Damon said, rolling his eyes.

"She's very pretty and a flirt," the woman agreed. "It's amazing that she looks like Elena. What a coincidence!"

"It's not a coincidence, Mrs. Flowers. Elena is a doppelganger. In fact, Katherine is one, too."

"I'm not sure what you mean."

"Katherine and Elena are very distantly related. They are duplicates of each other, physically. Especially in their blood. And there was someone before Katherine. Doppelgangers have a gift that can be used by someone. Klaus Mikaelson came to Mystic Falls because Elena was here and he wanted to use her for a special purpose. I don't want to go into that in detail now. The big _physical_ difference between Elena and Katherine is that Katherine is a …" Damon glanced at the back stairway and then continued, "a you-know-what."

"The situation is complicated, I see. Well, I promised Josh I'd bring him a Coke, so I better do so before he comes hobbling down the stairs."

She poured the Coke into a glass and took it up to the boy who was still using his laptop. He was connected to his iPod now, too, and he didn't remove the ear buds when he took the glass and thanked his aunt. She left him alone then.

Damon went looking for Stefan and finally found him up in his room. He told his brother what had happened in Josh's room.

"So Katherine marked him," Stefan said, shaking is head with disgust.

"I got Mrs. Flowers to give him tea with vervain. Katherine won't be able to compel him any more and if she bites him, she'll be surprised," Damon said with a nasty smile.

"You know we can sneak him some of our blood and he'll heal a hell of a lot faster," Stefan said. "We'd be able to send him home faster."

"We could do it if he liked tomato juice. Or we could let him suck some blood and compel him to forget," Damon said thoughtfully. "Of course, right now, he's on vervain. Can't compel him."

"Other than taking him back to his own home, we're stuck with him for now," Stefan said with a sigh. "I know a kid at school who's probably a year older than Josh, but he's not a big kid. I wonder if he'd come over and keep Josh company. Play video games with him or something."

"That's a gamble. Do you really know anything about that kid?"

"I think he's kind of a nerd. Wears non-cool clothes. A quiet, introverted kid. But maybe he'd click with Josh. Who knows?"

"It's the weekend. Do you know where the kid lives?"

"Yeah, I do. He's Mr. Renfrow's son."

"The guy who runs the pet store?"

"Yeah."

"Hm. I don't know. Do we want to bring another teen into this house?" Damon rolled his eyes at the idea.

"Josh has friends at home. He's going to be lonely and restless here alone. I'm not into entertaining him and I'm sure you're not either. I know he has his laptop and I'm sure he's communicating with a friend or two, but still …," Stefan said with a small smile. "And we have other worries as it is," he added.

"Yeah, I know," Damon said shaking his head. There was no telling what was going on with their friend Alaric. Was he good friend Rick or bad guy Alter Alaric? Hopefully, he was taking the herbs to keep him a good guy. And what was Klaus up to these days? Esther Mikaelson had disappeared. Would she come back and cause more trouble? Had Kol come back to Mystic Falls? And where was Elijah, the best of the lot, if one could consider any of them "best"?

"Okay," Stefan said, bringing Damon's thoughts back to the immediate problem. "I'll run into town and see if I can find Paco."

Stefan had only been gone a few minutes, when Damon heard the front door open.

"Hello," came Elena's voice. "Damon? Mrs. Flowers?"

Damon felt his heart skip a beat. Sweet Elena was here and Stefan was not! How wonderful!

A/N More pitfalls await the hard-luck kid, and Katherine isn't through with him. And Damon is Damon.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

A/N This chapter has more of Damon in it. I like writing about him and his behavior. Hope you all like it too.

"Damon's Ladies"

Damon was in the study at the computer. He stood up and walked to meet Elena as she appeared and entered the room. He couldn't keep the pleased grin from his face.

"And a good day to you, m'lady," he said, giving her an old-fashioned sweeping bow.

Elena grinned back at him, enjoying his exaggerated gentlemanly gesture.

"A good day to you, too, sir," she said, giving a little curtsy.

"And to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" Damon asked. He boldly walked to her, reached out to put his hands at her waist and leaned down toward her to kiss her lips. She turned her head just a bit and he had to plant the kiss on her cheek. He then moved his hands up to her face and turned it to face him. He quickly planted the intended kiss on her lips. 'Strike while the iron is hot,' the old saying went. Or before she could resist him.

Actually, she didn't resist, but neither did she reciprocate with the passion he would have liked. He let his lips stay on her soft ones, tasting her with the tip of his tongue without trying to force her teeth apart for a deeper kiss.

"I'm pleased to see you, too," Elena whispered when he let her lips go. This was true, but she was wary of her own divided feelings. Laying her hands on his arms, she gave him a quick kiss on his cheek. She had wanted to kiss him with passion, but she wouldn't let herself do it. Gently, but firmly, she pushed herself away from him. She felt his hands tighten so that his hands were cupping her head, his fingers at the back of her neck. She tensed just a little.

For a long moment she stared up into his blue eyes as he returned the look. She had no doubt that he loved her. His breath brushed her face, he was so close. Unless he was drinking, the smell of him was subtle and appealing. The feelings that rippled through her body let her know that he still turned her on. Don't go there, she told herself firmly. She refused to let her tongue slide over her own lips to savor the taste he had left there. Resisting wasn't easy at all.

Damon could see the confused and then determined looks that came to her face. He read her correctly and he felt both joy that she wanted him and frustration and disappointment that she was resisting her own impulses. He had to resist his own, which were to throw her down on the couch and ravish her. With her consent, of course.

His thoughts on that vanished when he realized that Mrs. Flowers had come to the doorway. How much had she seen? He saw her quickly turn and move away. He let his thumbs caress Elena's cheeks and then he let go of her.

Elena had seen him glance at the doorway before he released her. She stepped back from him and glanced toward the hall. No one was there now.

"Actually, I brought a book for Mrs. Flowers," she said, regaining her composure. She patted the pretty canvas bag hanging from her shoulder.

"Oh. Well, that's nice. She …um … saw us just now."

"She knows about our dilemma. _My_ dilemma. I told her," Elena admitted. "Let me go find her."

Damon watched her walk away. She had told Mrs. Flowers about her divided and confused desires? He hadn't realized that. However, he knew the woman had seen pictures taken by Bonnie of him, Elena and Stefan, and anyone could see the three were really close. Oh well, he sighed.

Instead of following Elena to look for Mrs. Flowers, he went to the bar and poured himself a shot of bourbon to ease his feelings. He stayed in the study, on the couch, brooding. His left hand came to rest on his thigh and he could have touched himself, but he resisted. The least little stimulation at this point would have him looking like Josh after an encounter with Katherine. He sipped his drink and waited. Unless Elena snuck out the back door, she would have to come by the study again on her way to the front door.

"I'm heading home," she said when she headed for the front door a few minutes later. "Bye, Damon," she said and she gave a little wave.

"Yeah, bye." He looked at her and gave her a crooked smile. He didn't see her to the front door and in a moment he heard the door close. Well, at least he had had her in his grasp for a moment and he had pressed his lips to hers. He would cherish that until his next chance to touch her.

Stefan drove into the town center where there was a pet store just down one of the streets off the square. He found a place to park and headed for the store. Inside, he spotted Mr. Renfrow at a puppy cage. The man, holding a fat, wiggling puppy,

smiled at him.

"How are you today, Stefan?" he asked. He was one of the sheriff's volunteer deputies, a vampire hunter, but not on the Council. As far as Stefan knew, the man didn't know about the resident vampires. It was the ones who came into the area and attacked or killed someone that caught the attention of the hunters.

"I'm fine, sir," Stefan said, returning the smile. He reached out to pat the puppy that then licked his hand with enthusiasm. "I was wondering if Paco is around." He used the son Francis' nickname, which the man didn't mind.

"Actually, he's in the back room, unloading cases of dog food. Go on back there."

As Stefan headed to the back, he knew the man was watching him. He suspected that the father wondered what an older teen wanted with his son. Not that there was much age difference, but the son was a quiet, introverted boy and a sophomore, while Stefan was a senior. Mr. Renfrow knew Damon better than he knew Stefan.

He found the boy doing what the father had said, unloading bags of dog food from a dolly. Paco was surprised to see him and stood up straight to eye Stefan. They knew each other mostly because both of them belonged to the chess club at the high school, although Stefan often missed meetings. Like most of the other students, the youth knew that Stefan had only been in town about two years and that he was part of the Salvatore family, which had money. Stefan had also played on the football team during his junior year, but not his senior year.

Stefan greeted the boy and told him his idea about Paco maybe visiting with Josh, who had an injured leg.

"He's younger than you, but he's not a child," Stefan said. He honestly didn't know what vices Paco might have, but he had a feeling the kid wasn't much into drugs or drinking. He seemed too shy to be chasing girls.

"I don't know," the boy said, hesitant to go visit a boy he didn't know at all. After further conversation, Stefan won, and without resorting to compelling the boy. Besides, he didn't know if Paco was on vervain as many townsfolk were, just in case the myths were true. Actually, considering that the father helped the sheriff, Paco most certainly was on vervain.

Although Stefan didn't insist Paco go with him at this time, the boy was nervously curious and agreed to go. He wasn't too happy with unloading dog food. His father let him go. He walked with Stefan to the Porsche and was quietly thrilled to get the chance to ride in the sporty car. His usual mode of transportation was his bicycle.

"You said he was walking in the woods and stepped into a hole?" Paco asked as they headed for the Salvatore house.

"Yeah. And landed wrong on his right foot. Look, if you two don't get alone, that's okay. I'll bring you back to the store or to your house. I appreciate you helping out like this."

When Stefan pulled into the driveway at the big house, the boy was impressed. He rarely came to this part of the town and had barely paid attention to the house. There were other big houses in the Mystic Falls area. The Salvatores, judging by the house and their cars, were rich. They were certainly not the richest people in town, like the Lockwoods, but they sure had money. Paco had heard his father say that it was rumored that the money was inherited from good investments. Paco didn't care about that sort of thing.

Stefan was not oblivious to some of the things he overheard in school or at the Grill. He himself was known for skipping school, but getting good grades. It made students and parents wonder if he was cheating somehow or if he was getting preferential treatment.

He also knew that his brother was considered a womanizer and a heavy drinker, a man who wasn't above trading punches with someone. As far as anyone knew, Damon didn't work. It was that inherited money again.

Stefan found Mrs. Flowers in the living room and he introduced Paco. She hadn't known about the plan to bring in another boy, but she wasn't against it.

"Is Josh up?" Stefan asked.

"He was in the kitchen munching something. It's been so long since I had to feed a teenager that I forgot how much they eat. And I never had to feed a boy," the woman said with a chuckle.

Stefan led Paco back to the kitchen where they found Josh listening to music on his iPod and eating toast. Stefan made the introductions and told Josh why the other boy was there. Josh looked unsure, but he wasn't rude enough to say he didn't want Paco there. Stefan got a soft drink for the new boy and put out a bag of cookies. He then left the boys to get acquainted.

As it turned out, Josh was good at telling stories and regaled Paco with his adventures at the Salvatore house. Paco was astounded that Josh had accidentally shot Damon – _the_ Damon Salvatore! He was also amazed that the kid had stumbled into a hidden cave opening and then been rescued by a sexy woman, a woman who looked almost like Elena Gilbert, who was also a sexy young woman. Elena was a senior, Paco knew. He thought Josh lived a charmed and exciting life. That is, if one ignored the facts that Josh shot someone, fell in a hole, broke is ankle, had surgery and was now in pain.

Mrs. Flowers overheard much of this conversation, since the boys tended to talk loudly. She was amused by some of it and not so much by other parts. She worried about the effect Katherine was having on Josh. She was thankful that the woman had found and saved Josh, but she was concerned about his thoughts on her. She felt that Damon was worried too, and that it was the reason he had insisted she give vervain to Josh.

She invited Paco to stay for supper. He called his parents so that they would know and not be expecting him home for the meal. Neither Damon nor Stefan was present as suppertime approached, so Mrs. Flowers cooked for just herself and the boys.

During the meal she asked how the visiting boy had come by his nickname. He explained that his name was Francis and his parents usually called him Frankie. But when he was eight years old, he had become best friends with a Hispanic boy named Carlos. It was Carlos who had started calling him Paco, the Spanish equivalent for Frankie. Kids at school had picked that up quickly and now he was known as Paco.

The boys spent time in the rec room afterward until Mrs. Flowers gave Josh a pain pill and went with him upstairs to his room. He assured her that he could get himself ready for bed and that it was all right for her to leave him alone while she drove Paco home. He wouldn't get into trouble while she was gone, he said. The boys already had plans for Paco to return after church the next day to keep Josh company.

Mrs. Flowers was glad she had not let Paco stay late. She had taken the one boy home and assured herself that the other one was safely in bed by the time Damon came home. He was drunk and unsteady and he wasn't alone. He happily introduced her to a young lady named Pamela, who also had had a few to drink.

Mrs. Flowers greeted the young woman, noting that her lipstick was smeared and matched the red smears on Damon's face and neck. Her hair was not as neat as it had probably been when she had started the evening. Damon's shirt wasn't buttoned anymore, showing his toned abdomen, and the lady's blouse was buttoned wrong.

The young woman whispered something in his ear and he not only laughed, he giggled.

"You're so sweet, sweetie," he managed to say. "And I'll be happy to show you. Very soon." He rolled his eyes and leered at her. He also almost lost his balance.

"Oops. I think I might be a wee bit inheeb … inibiate …. inhibit…drunk," he said with another chuckle and a small belch.

"Damon, did you drive home?" Mrs. Flowers found herself asking, frowning.

"Yup," he said, popping the p. "My car knows the way home. Good car."

"Miss, don't let him drive you home. You could get into an accident."

The young woman seemed to be less drunk that Damon and she nodded. Behind Damon's back, she used hand signals to indicate that she was the one who had driven the car.

"Why don't you two go upstairs, if that's where you're headed, and I'll close up down here," Mrs. Flowers said. She momentarily felt embarrassed because she assumed the two were going to his bedroom. What if they weren't? On the other hand, she thought it would be good to get him into bed, even if not along. She could only hope that they were not so noisy that they woke Josh.

"Good idea," Damon said. "Come, m'lady, I'll show me to your boudoir. No, it's mine. You'll show me to my bedchamber. I'll show … come on, follow me." He and the woman made it up the stairs, mostly because Pamela stayed behind him and had a hand on his back to balance him.

Mrs. Flowers would have laughed if she hadn't been a little disgusted with him. She spent a few minutes making sure doors were locked and the lights were out. She didn't know if Stefan was inside or out, but she knew he had a key. Finally, she headed for her own bedroom near the kitchen. She was tired, having not slept well the night before. Tomorrow would be better.

A/N I have more adventures of Damon, Josh and Katherine coming up.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

A/N Thanks again to those of you who are reading this story. This chapter has more of Katherine and Damon. I hope you all like it.

"Wakeup Call"

Josh woke up in the middle of the night because his foot and ankle were throbbing. He needed a pain pill. The house was very quiet, except for the wind blowing against the window. There was a tree outside and small branches brushed against the side of the house.

He knew the pills were downstairs in the kitchen. He wished he could call his aunt to bring him a pill, but there was no phone in his room and he didn't have his cell. He supposed he could make his way downstairs and get a pill himself. He lay there for several minutes before he thought he heard a voice saying his name. It sounded like Katherine.

He sat up in bed, thinking he was imagining the voice, but then he heard a little tap at one of the windows and he saw her there. It startled him and made his heart pound. How could she be outside his window? He was on the second floor!

He eased out of bed, reaching for his crutches. He didn't turn on his bedside light. In a moment, he was at the window. If it were not for the streetlight half a block away, he would not have been able to see her form. He tried to open the window, but it seemed stuck and he was balancing with the crutches.

"What are you doing out there? How did you get up here?" he asked through the glass.

"I climbed the tree. I'm on a branch," Katherine said, smiling. "I'm checking up on you. How is your ankle?"

"Right now, it hurts like hell. I need to go downstairs and get a pill. I can't believe you climbed the tree."

"Why? Because I'm a girl?"

"Yeah. I guess."

"You know, I can call Damon and he'll get you a pill," Katherine offered. "I know he's home, because his car is out in the driveway."

"You'd do that? I don't know if it's a good idea. I'm not Damon's favorite person. It'd be better if you called Aunt Theo."

"What's her number?"

"Um … I don't have it memorized."

"I'll call Damon. You're hurt and you need your medicine. He'll get it for you."

"All right. Thanks."

"Get back in bed. Good night, Josh."

"Good night, Katherine," Josh said and he hobbled back to bed. He turned on the bedside lamp to await the pill. What a weird thing that had been, he thought, to have Katherine show up at his window. She was a strange person. Sexy, but strange. He hoped she really would call Damon and that he would actually bring the pill.

Damon's cell phone rang and rang, it's musical notes calling him to come awake. The ringing stopped, but in seconds it started up again. He responded groggily, trying to reach the phone. It wasn't on his bedside table. Where the hell was it?

"Your phone is ringing," said a woman beside him.

"No kidding! Where is the damned thing?" he growled, raising his throbbing head. His ear told him it was on the floor somewhere.

He muttered curses as he fell out of bed onto the floor and crawled to where his pants lay in a pile. He groped for the phone, opened it and cursed a greeting that ended with, "What the hell do you want?"

"Hello to you, too," Katherine said.

"What? Katherine? Why the hell are you calling me? It's the wee hours of the morning and I got a damned hangover. Has something happened?"

"It's not my fault you have a hangover. The kid down the hall is awake and in pain and he needs a pain pill."

"_What?"_ Damon exclaimed. He filled Katherine's ears with profanity. She woke him up from a dead sleep to tell him the stupid kid needed a pill!? He closed the phone and lay there on the floor, naked. His head throbbed. He knew he was somewhere between still being drunk and having a hangover. His head felt more like the latter.

"Damon, was that important?" Pamela asked from the bed.

"No." He jumped when the phone rang again practically under his face. He shoved the thing away from him and it slid under the dresser, where it rang, stopped for a few seconds and then started again. He suspected Katherine would keep after him until he gave the boy his pill. How would she even know if he did? She'd look in the window, of course.

"I don't know how she knows he needs the damned pill," he muttered as he sat up and pulled on his underwear. He couldn't go downstairs naked because Mrs. Flowers might come out of her room. He ought to do it anyway. Give her a thrill.

He made his way out into the hall and managed to get down the stairs by hanging onto the railing tightly. He was afraid to zip down the stairs because he would probably run right into a wall. Then he staggered down the hall to the kitchen where he didn't turn on a light. He could see quite well and he spotted the pill container on the counter.

Mrs. Flowers woke for two reasons. For one thing, she thought she heard something out in the kitchen. For another, her wristwatch alarm was making its little sound. Time to get up and give Josh a pain pill. He likely needed it.

But who or what was in the kitchen? She could see no light coming under her bedroom door. Whoever was out there didn't have a light on. Surely it was Damon or Stefan rather than someone breaking in. Supposedly, Katherine was confined to a cellar room.

Cautiously, she got up, drew a robe over her cotton pajamas and opened her bedroom door a crack. She could just make out the form of a man over by the counter. She could hear him breathing and muttering. Her heart was pounding as she reached around the corner by her door to one of the kitchen light switches. The bright ceiling lights came on and she saw that it was Damon in a pair of briefs. She was looking at his back and certainly noticed he had a nice physique. She wasn't totally relieved that it was him, because he cursed at the bright light and she feared he might be dangerous in his drunken or hung-over state.

"Turn the damned lights off," he bellowed. They went off.

"What are you doing?" the woman asked. Was he stealing the boy's narcotics? Was Damon a drug user as well as an abuser of alcohol? She was now blinded by the darkness.

"Josh is awake and he needs a pill," Damon growled.

"How do you know that? Did he wake you?"

"Yeah," Damon said, alert enough not to mention Katherine.

"I'm sorry he woke you. I set my alarm to wake me because I thought he would be needing more medication by now." She walked over to the counter. She could actually see now by the light of the digital clock on the microwave oven. The coffee maker also beamed at them. Damon had the pill bottle in his hand, so she held her hand out. He handed it over. "Are you all right?"

"Just a hangover," he muttered and he headed out of the kitchen for the back stairs. Mrs. Flowers followed him, but not too closely. He reeked of alcohol breath, Pamela's perfume and sex.

She found Josh awake, his light on. No surprise there. He told her the pain had woken him, but he didn't mention Katherine. She apologized for not bringing him a pill sooner.

"You woke up Damon," she said as she brought him a glass of water from the bathroom and watched him swallow the pill.

"You ran into him? Was he mad?"

"Josh, he partied earlier and he was drunk. He has a hangover. So, yes, he's upset you woke him."

"I can't do anything right for him, can I?"

"Don't worry about it. It's been a bad week for you. That's not normal, is it?"

"No," Josh admitted. Nothing that had happened lately was normal. He felt like there was a curse on him. Except for the Katherine part.

They sat and talked for a while until the pill began to take effect. Josh was supposed to sleep with his foot elevated on pillows, but the one he had been using had flattened out. The aunt got another pillow from the closet and Josh propped his foot higher. Finally, Mrs. Flowers turned out the light and went back downstairs. It was an hour before she could fall asleep again.

She kept thinking about Damon, his drunkedness, the fact that he had a woman in his bed and also the way he had looked in the kitchen. The first two thoughts reminded her of one of her brothers when he was a young man, the one who was married and divorced three times. The third thought reminded her of how great her late husband had looked, well-built and handsome, but he had never been one to use the language that Damon sometimes did, nor had he been a sarcastic person. He also hadn't been a vampire.

Damon returned to his room, finding that Pamela …Pamela? yes, Pamela … had turned on one of the bedside lamps. She had a sheet pulled up to cover her chest as she waited for him.

"Everything all right now?" she asked.

"I guess," he said. He knew that if he fed from her now, his headache would lessen. To feed or not to feed, that was the question. He had already bitten her once. Keeping his briefs on, he climbed onto bed and under the sheet. He reached out to the woman, placing his fingers against her chin and turning her to face him. She looked into his eyes and smiled.

He gazed into her light brown eyes and compelled her to calmly submit to his bite. He was sure he had compelled her prior to the first bite, but he wanted to reinforce it because he couldn't remember doing it the first time. He let his face change and she didn't pull away or look frightened. As he drove his fangs into her shoulder muscle, she barely moved. Blood welled up and he sucked it into his mouth. He didn't need much and he hadn't gone for a blood vessel. In a moment he licked the area clean and moved to kiss her mouth.

As the blood spread through his body, he not only felt the hangover dissipate somewhat, but he was becoming aroused, probably because Pamela had sneaked a hand down to his crotch. She helped him wiggle out of his underwear and, lying on his back, he let her have her way with him, as the old saying goes. Finally, exhausted again, he fell asleep.

Because Katherine had shifted from outside Josh's room to outside Damon's front bedroom, she knew that Damon had a woman in his bed. Well, he frequently did. She herself liked a good romp with Damon, but he had to be in a special mood to have her. As long as he had her barred from the house, he was obviously not in need of her services. He would just have to settle for the questionable skills of lesser women.

Satisfied that her young friend Josh was medicated and asleep, Katherine went off into the night to find her own entertainment. Even at this early hour of the morning there were humans out and about.

A/N Is Josh done with having mishaps? No way!


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

A/N I know people are reading this story, but no one has made any comment in over a week. Either no one finds the story worth a comment, good or bad, or I am somehow cut off from reviews. Is that possible? Anyway, I hope you like this chapter.

It was six thirty on that Sunday morning that Mrs. Flowers' watch alarm woke her. She got up and made a quick trip into the bathroom. Seeing that her hair was a mess, she took a moment to brush it. She was a little weary, having had her sleep interrupted during the night, but that was alright. She drew on her robe and went out into the kitchen. Again, she saw a man's form, but when she put on the lights, she found that it was Stefan. The automatic coffee maker was gurgling and Stefan was waiting for a taste.

"Good morning," she said pleasantly. "You're up early."

He smiled and returned the greeting. "Hunting," he reminded her and she nodded.

To their surprise, a minute later Josh hobbled into the kitchen on his crutches. He was wearing the plaid boxer shorts and tee shirt that he had slept in.

"Josh! I was just about to come upstairs and give you a pill," the woman said. "Are you hurting again?"

"Some. Not too bad," Josh said. "You're up early for a Sunday morning," he said to Stefan, glad to see him. Under normal conditions, Josh himself would have slept late on a Sunday morning.

"I… uh …jog at this hour most mornings," Stefan said.

"I wish I could go with you. I wish I could take a shower. I feel so grubby," Josh said. He scratched his scalp. The people who took care of him at the hospital had cleaned him up a little, but he still had dirt in his hair and he didn't feel clean. He had been told not to get the bandage on his ankle wet.

"Look, when I get back, I'll show you how to take a bath and keep your foot dry," Stefan said, before the woman could say the same thing. He poured himself a half cup of the hot coffee and carefully sipped it. Even if he burned his lips or tongue, they would heal quickly.

Mrs. Flowers could still have said she would help the boy, but she decided Josh would rather have another guy show him how to bathe rather than a woman, even though she was a nurse. She knew how modest teenagers could be about their bodies.

Stefan went out the back door and Josh took a seat at the table. His aunt gave him a pill with a glass of water. She then poured herself a cup of coffee to start the morning. The rest of the day, she would drink tea.

"Toast, cereal, eggs, bacon, pancakes, grits. What will it be this morning, Josh?" she asked. There was plenty of food since she had had taken the time to shop Friday morning. At that time she hadn't known she would be feeding a teenager.

"No cereal. Everything else. I'm famished. Wasting away," Josh said with a grin.

He was surprised to see a woman peek into the kitchen from the hall and say, "Good morning."

"Good morning," Mrs. Flowers said. "Coffee?"

"Oh, yes. I'd love some," Pamela said. She was dressed more neatly than the night before. Her hair was combed and her lipstick was even. "I could smell it all the way upstairs."

Josh eyed her with surprise. "You were a guest here last night? I didn't know that." He was seated across the table from the door and he hoped she couldn't see that he was in his underwear.

"Um, yes," she said, smiling at him. "Now I'm off to church." She took the cup Mrs. Flowers offered and she added a bit of milk and sugar. She drank it down standing by the refrigerator and then excused herself and left, heading for the hall. She stopped and turned around, "Will you please tell Damon I'm taking his car and I'll leave it where my car is parked. The key will be under the mat."

"Oh, dear. His car might be stolen," Mrs. Flowers said.

"Don't worry," Damon said, appearing by Pamela's side. He was unshaven and his hair stuck out all over his head, but his eyes were clear and alert. He was wearing jeans, an unbuttoned shirt and shoes. "I'll drive you, sweetie."

"I didn't want to wake you," Pamela said, handing him the car keys.

Josh was smart enough to guess that she had been in Damon's bed. She wasn't really a guest. So Damon had been drunk and he'd had a woman with him overnight. A pretty woman. Lucky Damon.

My woman came to my window, Josh thought with a little smile. Even though Katherine might be eighteen or nineteen - he wasn't sure - he was thinking of her as "my woman." Not "my girl." She was a young woman.

Stefan returned from his hunt. He stopped at an outdoor faucet to wash his hands and face to be sure he didn't have deer blood on him. There were no spots on his sweatshirt. There were some deer hairs, though, and he brushed them off, as well as brushing dried leaves from the knees of his jeans. He then went inside.

He plopped down in one of the empty chairs and took a slice of toast from the pile Mrs. Flowers had made. He noticed that she was eating scrambled eggs and toast, plus a small cup of yogurt. He piled jelly on his toast and munched it.

"You don't get sweaty from jogging," Josh observed. He had taken his time with breakfast and he was reading the newspaper comic strips, the only part of a newspaper he ever read.

"I walk part of the way back to cool down. It's a bit chilly out this morning anyway," Stefan said.

When Josh was finished eating, he and Stefan went up the back stairs to Josh's room.

"I think Damon had a woman in his bed last night," the youth confided along the way.

"Oh? Well, Damon attracts ladies like a flame attracts moths. He's single. He can bring a lady home," Stefan said.

"Do you?"

"You're nosy," Stefan said, only slightly accusingly. "I haven't in a while. Elena and I had a breakup a little while ago and we're in the process of getting back together."

"Oh. Well, I hope that works out for you two. I …" he almost said something about Katherine, but something stopped him. He didn't know exactly what.

"You what?" Stefan asked.

"Nothing. Do you think I can take a bath without getting my foot wet? I don't see how, unless I just use a wash cloth. I did some of that in the hospital. I can't wash my hair that way."

They had come to his room and they walked into the bathroom. Stefan studied the tub, which was up against a wall. There was no room on the right side for Josh to prop his foot up safely.

"Come on. I think the bathroom next door has the tub on the same wall, but reversed," Stefan said. He led the way to the bedroom just down the hall. He knew that originally, the bathrooms had been another small bedroom. It had been divided into two bathrooms and closets, providing private baths for the other two bedrooms.

"See, this bathtub has the right side away from the wall. You can prop your foot up on it," Stefan said. The shower was not one that had a hand-held spray part, however. "I'll get a pitcher so I can pour water on your head and you can wash your hair. Okay?"

"Okay."

"I'll get a towel, wash cloth and one of the terrycloth robes for you to put on afterward. Go ahead and undress while I get them. And run the hot water so it's ready," Stefan instructed.

" 'kay," Josh said. When Stefan had left, the boy, leaning on his crutch, turned on the hot water and waited for the water to come in hot. He closed the outflow, added a bit of cold water and watched the water spread along the bottom of the tub.

He then sat on the lid of the toilet seat and worked at undressing. It didn't take much. Except for the "boot," he was barefoot. His clothes consisted of the tee shirt and boxer shorts. He peeled them off.

It was true that Josh hoped Stefan was not gay. He didn't want to be naked in front of a gay guy. Stefan was dating Elena, and that should mean he was straight, Josh hoped.

Stefan returned with the pitcher, towels, soap, shampoo and the robe. He could see that the youth was a bit uncomfortable being naked in front of him, but the boy pretended he didn't care.

"The water isn't too hot for you is it?" the young man asked.

"No. It feels right."

"I'll hang onto you while you get into the tub and sit down. Your bad foot has to stay propped up on this edge of the tub," Stefan said. With his assistance, Josh got into the nice warm water, which was only about six inches deep. Stefan then filled the pitcher with water and poured it over Josh's head. Dirt ran down the boy's skin. It was dirt that had fallen in on him when he had gone into the hole and when Katherine had been standing up near the edge. Even though he had combed his hair, some dirt had stuck to his scalp.

Stefan held onto Josh's booted foot while the boy washed his hair, and then another pitcher of water was poured on as a rinse. Soon, Josh had clean hair.

Stefan used a bath brush to scrub the boy's shoulders and back and then he told the boy he could do the rest.

"Just be careful of your foot. You wiggle around too much and that whole thing is going to end up in the water," Stefan said. "If you don't mind me staying, I can hold onto your foot just above the water and it'll be easier for you."

"You can stay," Josh said, afraid his foot would slip and end up in the water and he'd have to go to the hospital again for dry bandages. "Talk to me. I don't know what to do. I mean, like, should I go home and face Dad, or should I stay here?"

He scrubbed his body with soap and the wash cloth. Having sort of bathed in the hospital, using a basin and wash cloth, the front of him wasn't too dirty, other than his hair, neck, back and good leg.

Stefan was kneeling beside the tub and holding the booted foot above water. "You have to face your father sooner or later."

"What pisses me off is that I didn't _know_ my friend Hal took his mother's car without her permission. He's a good driver. And all we did was drive around and then stop and get a couple of burgers and fries," Josh grumbled. "No big deal."

"Your dad didn't think that way. He's a parent. You got into a mess and you can't blame him for being mad. He probably imagined you might have gotten in an accident or something. If he didn't give a damn about you, he wouldn't be so mad."

"Nothing happened! _I_ didn't do anything wrong."

"There are people in prison who 'just went along for the ride'," Stefan said. "I don't know how many times I got into trouble just being with my older brother when I was a kid. Lucky for me, my father punished Damon instead of me if we got caught."

Stefan knew that in his own childhood, he and his older brother had done things that made Giuseppe angry. The man had whipped Damon as punishment. He hadn't whipped the younger boy. In seventeen years, Stefan had only been spanked two or three times as a young child and his father had taken a leather riding crop to his buttocks once when he was around ten. It was true that he had been confined to his room and was forced to miss a meal several times, going to bed hungry. He had been afraid of his father often, especially when he was drunk, but he had never run away.

Stefan didn't say anything more on the subject. "You got some dirt on the side of your neck," he mentioned and Josh rubbed it with the wash cloth. Stefan did notice the two tiny scabs where the boy's neck joined his shoulder. Damon had been right. Katherine had bitten Josh. Stefan didn't like that. The boy was a guest in the Salvatore house, but more importantly, he was young.

Stefan had been known to feed from older teens, boys or girls, but he had never gone after a younger kid. Even when he was a horrible ripper, he hadn't gone after a young kid. If he had unknowingly, it was because some youths were so big at an early age. The bad part was that as a ripper, he had killed. He was ashamed of that.

Josh wass trying to picture Damon confined to his bedroom and sulking. "Your father grounded Damon and took away his phone and his computer?" he asked with a smirk.

"Yeah," Stefan said. He didn't want to figure out a better answer.

In a few more minutes, Josh was clean and Stefan helped him out of the tub. Once dry, Josh slipped on the big robe. Stefan picked up the tee shirt and boxers and they returned to Josh's room. Stefan left him there to dress.

Stefan went up to his own room. Having hunted in the woods, he needed to shower and change clothes. He also brushed his teeth, did his once-a-week shave and spent several minutes getting his hair to stay where he wanted it. Afterward, he settled on his unmade bed and wrote in his current diary, updating it with the arrival of Josh.

The boy in question spent time on his laptop in contact with his good friend Rusty. He couldn't tell him about Katherine, but he had other stuff to tell, like Damon being drunk and having a woman overnight and Stefan helping him with his bath. He hoped Rusty didn't get the wrong idea about that. He assured Rusty that there was nothing inappropriate going on between him and Stefan.

"Stefan's just a good guy. I wish I had a brother like him," he told his friend.

Damon returned home and went to his room. He didn't have a hangover, but he was a little confused about what had happened while he was drunk. He thought about it while he took his shower, shaved and brushed his teeth. He had enjoyed Pamela. At least he thought he had. She reminded him of Andie. Poor Andie.

He also vaguely recalled getting a phone call to take a pain pill to Josh. He didn't remember actually doing that, but he must have. Once he was dressed again, he looked for his phone and couldn't find it. He checked the pockets of the pair of jeans which he had just thrown in the clothes hamper. No phone. He went through the pockets of the leather jacket he had been wearing while out with Pamela. No phone. Nor was it on the bedside table, or on the floor. He changed the sheets on his bed and then made it properly as he always did, but found no phone there either.

Pamela wouldn't have taken it, but she could have found it on the floor and laid it somewhere. He looked on every piece of furniture in the room and in the bathroom. Had he taken it to Josh's room, along with the pill? He went down the hall to the boy's room.

Josh was surprised when there was a knock on the door and then it opened immediately. He felt a qualm as the older man came into the room, a scowl on his face. Damon always seemed to have a scowl or a mean smirk on his face.

"Did I leave my phone in here last night?" Damon asked.

"No, sir. You weren't in here last night."

"No? Didn't I bring you a pill?"

"No, sir, Aunt Theo brought me one. I'm sorry I woke you up."

Damon tried to remember. "You phoned me?"

"No. Um … sh…she did."

"She who?"

"Um …"

"Katherine! _She_ called me last night. Woke me up and told me _you_ needed a pill," Damon said accusingly. "How'd she know you needed one? She can't get into the rest of the house."

"The window. Sh…she climbed the tree out there and talked to me through the window," Josh admitted.

"That figures. Has she been messing with you, Josh? She bit you, didn't she? Nibbled on your neck?"

Josh couldn't answer. He was afraid of Damon, but he defiantly defended Katherine.

"K…Katherine wouldn't hurt me," he managed to say. How did Damon know she had bitten him? His hand went to the place on his neck. Damn, he thought. I shouldn't have done that, touched the place. Damon is no fool. He knows!

"Did you open the window?"

"No. It's stuck or something."

"Good. Katherine is _an adult_," Damon said, even though he knew this wasn't true. Technically, she was still the seventeen-year-old that she had been when she had turned, just as Stefan was. "Josh, you don't want her to get into trouble for messing around with a _minor_, do you?"

"No, of course not!" Josh said. He hadn't considered that. He would love to have Katherine do some improper things with him, a teenaged boy's dream, but he certainly wouldn't want her to get into trouble with the law. And Damon was a deputy sheriff, he believed.

"Then, stay away from her. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir," Josh said, feeling defeated and confused. Damon must know that Katherine did what she wanted to do. Josh couldn't make her stay away. He really didn't want her to stay away. He and Katherine were friends. If he was a bit older and had a more manly physique, they would be more than friends. In fact, he was sure they could be more than friends right now.

Damon left the boy's room and went down to the kitchen where Mrs. Flowers was sipping coffee and reading the morning newspaper, which was tossed onto the front walkway sometime in the early morning.

"Mrs. Flowers, did you see my cell phone? I can't find it anywhere. I know I had it last night when Josh needed his pain pill."

"No, I haven't. I'll keep an eye opened for it."

Damon went to the study where there was a land line phone. He dialed his cell and listened for it to ring. He was sure he heard it faintly. It rang the usual four times and then went silent. He redialed, left the handset on the desk and zipped up the stairs to his room. The ringing was coming from his bedroom, but as he went inside, it stopped.

Frustrated, he was about to go up to Stefan's room, but just then he heard Stefan clomping down the stairs from the third floor.

"Have you got your phone on you?" he asked his younger brother.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Call my phone. I can't find it. I heard it in my room, but I can't find the damned thing."

Stefan made the call and Damon stood in his room listening. Ha! The phone was under his dresser. The clearance between the bottom of the dresser and the floor was only an inch. He couldn't get his hand under there.

"Come lift this thing while I get the phone out," he said to his brother.

Stefan moved over to one end of the dresser and easily lifted it. Damon, down on his hands and knees, spotted the phone back near the wall. He reached under there, trusting his brother not to drop the dresser on his arm.

Mrs. Flowers arrived to see if he had found his phone. The scene she saw was that of Stefan holding up one end of the dresser with ease, while Damon's rear end was up in the air as he peered under the dresser and reached under it. She kept seeing interesting views of him.

In a moment he retrieved the phone and sat back on his heels, examining the device to be sure it wasn't broken. Stefan set the dresser down.

"Should I ask how it got under there?" the younger brother asked.

"No." The truth was that Damon didn't know.

"I'm glad you found it," Mrs. Flowers said. Since Stefan had seen her, she had no graceful way of exiting the scene.

Damon turned to see her and held up the phone. He made no comment as he got to his feet. Mrs. Flowers walked away. With her gone, he told Stefan that Katherine had been at the boy's window.

"One of us needs to talk to her and tell her to keep away from the kid," Damon muttered.

"You do it. Katherine doesn't take orders from me," Stefan said.

"Yeah. Okay," Damon agreed as he slipped his phone into his pocket. He would get to Katherine later.

A/N Please, please review. I need to know the review connection is still working.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

A/N I'm pleased with the number of people reading The Kid. A nice thank you to Vermontgirl61 for your comments.

"John Deere"

Neither of Damon nor Stefan spoke to Katherine that morning because she was not at the house. Instead, they were pleased that Paco's father brought the boy back for another day's visit with Josh. They figured that would keep the boy occupied and out of trouble.

Josh, although younger, was the more dominant boy of the two. He led Paco into the rec room and they played a couple of Wii games. Then Josh asked him if he would like to see an old car in the garage.

"Sure," Paco said. "Damon and Stefan both drive classic cars. Is it one of theirs?"

"No. This one is different. Stefan showed it to me. It's _really_ old. Like, from the 1930's. It doesn't even run anymore, but it's in pretty good shape," Josh said and he hobbled on his crutches out the back door, down from the patio and over to the four-car garage. He knew the small door was unlocked, so he took Paco inside.

The car in the space farthest to the right was covered by a canvas drape. The boys went to it and lifted the cover. It was a convertible with the top down.

"Oh,wow! This is so cool!" Paco said. "What is it?"

"Stefan told me. Let's see if I can remember. It's, like, a 1930 Ford Model A. It's a deluxe roadster, he said. Look where the spare tires are kept, right outside by the engine."

They admired it and climbed inside and pretended to drive it. They weren't sure how the driver shifted gears. It didn't matter; they weren't really driving it. After a while they got tired of that, covered the vehicle and went back toward the small door.

"Stefan showed me a John Deere riding mower in the shed," Josh said. He went to a door that led from the garage into a small attached shed. There was one window in the shed and the light from it showed various yard tools and the shiny green riding mower. The boys walked around it and noticed that the key was in it.

"This is cool," Paco said. My dad's got a riding mower, but it's smaller and closer to the ground. Instead of a steering wheel like this, ours has a couple of handles to steer with. I really like this better. It looks like a miniature farm tractor. We could ride it around the yard. I wonder who we should ask."

"Damon and Stefan are gone right now," Josh said. "Aunt Theo probably doesn't care. I don't see why we can't, like, ride it around the back yard. The grass doesn't need mowing this time of year, so we don't have to, like, mow the whole yard."

"Maybe we should wait 'til Stefan or Damon get back and ask them," Paco suggested. He was a guest and he didn't want to get into trouble. He was older than Josh and should be more responsible, but the truth was Josh was a more forceful person.

"Why? We won't get in trouble if we just stay in the back yard. What can happen? I wonder how much gas is in it," Josh said.

The boys fooled around with the mower for several minutes, looking at the controls. Finally, they tried to open the shed door and found that it was not locked either.

"They should keep the garage and the shed locked," Paco said, frowning. "Someone could steal stuff." His father was strict about locking things up.

"In this little hick town? There probably isn't much crime here," Josh reasoned.

Paco frowned again. He didn't think Mystic Falls was a "hick town." He didn't say anything, though.

Josh and Paco pushed the mower out into the yard and in no time had it turned on. Josh talked Paco into riding it around the back yard first. Paco drove carefully, making sure he didn't get into the shrubs, the rose bushes or the flower beds. After one lap, he came to a halt by the other boy.

With Paco's help, Josh got onto the seat. He had to leave his crutches and he had to be careful of how much pressure he put on his bad foot. He shifted gears and set off around the yard. He was surprised that his aunt didn't come out the back door to see what the noise was. He didn't know that she was using the vacuum cleaner on the various rugs in the living room and study and couldn't hear the mower.

Having driven around the perimeter of the lawn, avoiding the rose bushes and the swing as he went, he cut across the middle, planning to make a figure-eight pattern. He came closer to the marble fountain than he had planned. He didn't realize that there was a muddy dip under the grass close to the fountain base until he drove into it. One wheel of the mower sank into the mud and the machine tilted sharply. Taken by surprise, Josh slipped, his bad foot moving right off the footrest. He lost his balance and fell against the edge of the basin of the fountain. There was a smaller basin positioned a little above the larger lower one and Josh hit his head on it.

Momentarily stunned, he fell to the ground and against the fountain base, while the mower righted itself, chugged a couple of times and came to a stop. Paco came running over, carrying the crutches. He knelt in the muddy grass beside his friend.

"Josh! Are you okay? Are you hurt?" he asked frantically. He thought, Oh man, we're in trouble now!

"I'm all right, I think," Josh said, shaking his head. He touched his temple and his fingers came away with a spot of blood. In addition, his foot and ankle throbbed and he feared he had reinjured it. Water was soaking through his khaki shorts and underwear from the mud as he sat there, leaning against the base of the fountain.

"Where the hell did this mud come from?" he asked, looking around. "This stupid fountain is leaking." Much of the area was covered with autumn leaves that had blown across the lawn from the woods nearby. The wet area had not been obvious.

"It must be. There's probably a pipe right under here," Paco agreed. "You got a lump on your forehead and a little cut."

"Yeah. I can feel it. Damn, Paco, how am I going to hide this?"

"I don't think you can, my friend," the older boy said, his face grim.

Josh spotted someone coming from the around the south side of the house and he thought it was his aunt, but he realized that it was Katherine. Katherine was coming! She would help him somehow.

The young woman walked over to where the boys waited.

"More bad luck, Josh?" she asked, looking down at him.

"Can you believe it? I am so bummed," Josh said. He saw Katherine look questioningly at Paco, so he introduced the two.

Katherine squatted down to get a better look at Josh. She very much wanted to lick the blood from his forehead, but she restrained herself. "Are you dizzy?"

"I was for a moment, but it's gone," Josh assured her. He didn't want to appear a sissy. She had already seen him at his worst and he didn't want to add to it. "I want to get this mower back to the shed before Damon sees it. He'll be pissed at me."

"I bet he will," Katherine agreed. "If we help you, can you stand up?"

"Yeah," Josh said, nodding. He gritted his teeth as she and Paco took his arms and got him up on his good foot. When he seemed steady, Paco gave him the crutches.

Katherine watched him closely to make sure he didn't fall over. She thought he looked a little pale. When he seemed to be all right, she turned to Paco and instructed the youth to get on the mower, start it and drive it back to where it belonged. As Paco drove, Katherine walked beside Josh as he hobbled along behind the mower. She put her hand on his shoulder to reassure him. He glanced at her and a grin broke out on his face. She knew the youth was infatuated with her and liked her touch. She gave him a small smile.

The small trickle of blood, about an inch long, below the swelling on the side of his forehead was becoming a major temptation to Katherine. She gave in to it. She reached out and used a finger to gently wipe the blood away. Even though Josh was looking at her, she boldly licked the blood from her finger. It stung her mouth and she started to gag. She spit it out. Someone had put Josh on vervain!

Josh was astounded that she had done that. "That's gross, Katherine! Yuk!"

"Why? You don't have any diseases, do you?" she managed to say. She tried to hide the fact that his blood was tainted. The boy had enough problems without his thinking he had awful blood.

"No! But still… You have a _thing _for blood?" he asked, disgusted.

"Have you ever heard of the people who are so into the _vampire myth_ that they will actually taste blood?" Katherine asked with a hint of a smile.

"Yeah. They have fake fangs and wear goth stuff. Are you saying you're one of them?" The idea was a turn-off for Josh. Surely Katherine wasn't one of those weirdos!

"Yes, Josh. I'm one of them."

"If you like it so much, why'd you spit it out?"

"You were in the hospital. You have medicine in your blood. It doesn't taste good," Katherine said, pleased with herself for thinking of this answer. "I hope this doesn't make you hate me. I like you and I don't want to totally gross you out."

"I don't know. It sort of does, but …" It occurred to him that Damon and Stefan knew this about Katherine and that was one of the reasons they had warned Josh to stay away from her. It was why Damon had asked if Katherine had bitten him. Now Josh's feelings for the pretty young woman were really confused. He found that he was still fascinated by her, but her weird interest and her taste for real blood was disgusting. He didn't think he could ever kiss her. And yet…

Paco had backed the mower into the shed by now. He closed the door as he came back outside and looked at Josh and Katherine. He had seen Elena Gilbert at school and was very surprised that this young woman looked like her twin. That was weird. He also felt a touch of jealousy because Josh was friends with the sexy Katherine.

"All right, guys, lets get to the house. You need to clean up, Josh," Katherine said.

The three of them went to the back door, progressing at Josh's speed.

"Do you want to come in?" Josh asked at the back door. It seemed the polite thing to do.

"Oh, no thanks. Damon doesn't want me in the house. Besides, I have things to do," Katherine said. "You go on now."

Josh and Paco went into the kitchen. Mrs. Flowers was not there. In fact, the boys could hear the vacuum cleaner running somewhere, probably in the dining room.

"Let's get up to my room before Aunt Theo sees me," Josh said and he headed quietly for the back stairs.

"What are you going to tell her about the bump on your head?" Paco asked when they were halfway up the stairs.

"I'll tell her I lost my balance and bumped my head. It's the truth and she'll believe me," Josh said as he came to the last few steps. He had three more to go when he looked up and saw Damon standing right there in the upper hall, glaring at him. The boy stopped in his tracks and Paco bumped into him.

"What?" Paco asked. He looked around Josh and saw Damon. Oh,oh!

A/N Josh's bad luck and stressful situations will continue. Stay tuned.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

A/N Thank you to you all who are reading about Josh. He doesn't seem to get away with much, does he?

"Don't Hurt Me"

"What the hell happened to you this time?" Damon demanded. He was standing about eight feet away from the top of the steps. "Get up here."

Josh came up the last three steps to the hall floor. Paco followed.

"I was out back and I lost my balance. I bumped my head. I got a lump, but I think it's okay," Josh managed to say as he reached up a gently touched the bump.

"And why were you worried about what to tell your aunt?" Damon demanded. He had heard the conversation of the boys as they came up the stairs. They were guilty of something, but he didn't know what. Minutes before, he had come in the front door and up the front stairs. He had heard the vacuum running and when he went up to the upstairs hall, he had heard the boys' voices.

"I didn't want to worry her."

"You think she isn't going to notice the knot on your head? What did you bump your head on?" Damon demanded, narrowing his eyes. "What were you doing?"

"Nothing."

"Don't give me that 'nothing' crap," Damon snapped in a louder voice. He moved a little closer to the boys.

Josh was afraid of Damon and he felt a little sick to his stomach, but he also felt sudden anger.

"You aren't my _father_! Don't yell at me like that!"

Damon wanted to slap the boy's face, but he didn't move. He looked at Josh's red, defiant face and felt a knot in his own stomach. It had been ages since he had stood before his own father and spoken defiantly. Giuseppe had not taken kindly to that resistance to his authority. He had whipped his stubborn son many times.

Damon turned his cold blue eyes on Paco and said, "You, go downstairs and stay there."

The boys exchanged alarmed looks, and then Paco turned and hurried down the stairs. He was not about to defy Damon Salvatore.

"And _you_ get in your room," Damon said. He watched Josh hobble past him and to his room. Before Josh could close the door, Damon put his foot against it. The boy looked at him with alarm.

"What are you going to do to me?" Josh asked fearfully, backing away.

"I want to know what you boys were up to when you fell. And don't you dare give me any more damned 'nothing' crap," the older man snapped as he closed the door behind him.

He saw Josh's eyes get bigger with fear. The boy backed further away from him. He couldn't escape. Had Giuseppe seen that look on his older son's face? Had he enjoyed seeing his son look cornered? Damon had hated him. Feeling like he did at this moment, he still hated his long-dead father. The feeling confused his attitude toward Josh.

Josh's defiance melted away. He was just scared. Tears came to his eyes and he felt ashamed of that. He hoped he outgrew this tendency toward tears soon. It was not manly. In defeat, he told Damon what he and Paco had done with the lawn mower.

"It was my idea, not Paco's," he whispered in the end.

How many times had Damon told his father that what he and Stefan had done had been his idea, not Stefan's? How many times had he taken a whipping so that his younger brother would not? Hell, Damon thought, I was to blame ninety percent of the time anyway.

He shrugged away these useless and uncomfortable memories. "Go in the bathroom and take your pants off," he told the boy.

"What? W…why?" Josh asked, suddenly thinking Damon was either going to beat his behind or, God forbid, do something very indecent.

Damon could almost read the boy's mind. The youth's expression was priceless. "Because you've got mud all over them. I don't want you sitting down anywhere. Do you want to stand up for the rest of the day?"

"N…no, sir," Josh stammered. He moved toward the bathroom and when he was in there, he tried to close the door. Damon was right there. No closing the door.

"Do you get into this much trouble when you're at home?"

"No, sir. Everything just seems to be happening."

Damon shook his head, amazed at the kid's bad luck. "Are you going to take your pants off?"

"Do you have to, like, watch me? Can't I have some privacy?"

"What difference does it make? I'm sure you don't have anything I haven't seen before," Damon said with a smirk. He was sort of enjoying this, thinking that this was punishment for the boy. However, the damned feelings from his own youth kept creeping in. He didn't like it. It didn't feel good and he scowled.

Josh saw the scowl and he hastily undid his belt as he leaned on the crutches. As he pushed down the khaki shorts and underwear, he saw for the first time just how muddy they were, not just wet, but muddy. He had to sit down on the toilet seat lid to get the shoe off his normal foot and the pants off over the "boot," which was dirty, too. He held his shirt down to cover himself. He couldn't look at Damon, and feeling very vulnerable, he wished Stefan was there to protect him.

"Please don't hurt me," Josh whispered, not looking at the man.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Josh. I'm not that kind of guy," Damon said with a snort. He wet a small hand towel and handed it to the boy. "Stand up. You got mud all over your butt. And tell me more about the mud and the fountain. It sounds like there's a water leak out there."

Josh stood, leaning on one crutch, and began wiping the backs of his thighs and his buttocks. The towel became dirty quickly because the mud had soaked through to his skin. Damon took the towel from him, rinsed it in the sink and handed it back. Josh managed to tell him what he had seen at the fountain.

"I'll have to get someone out to look into that," Damon said. "If the pipe to the fountain is leaking or one of the fountain basins is cracked, I'm paying for more town water than I need to be." He'd have to ask Mrs. Flowers what the water bill was when she had recently paid it on line.

"Can I, like, say something?" Josh asked as he used a bath towel to dry his damp skin. The towel came away dirty, too, but not much. He felt a bit more comfortable with Damon than he had minutes before.

"What?"

"The garage and the shed were both unlocked. Don't you, like, worry someone might steal something?"

"They were both unlocked? Who was out there last? Did Stefan take you in there and show you the old car?"

"Yes, sir," Josh admitted, and then he realized that he had just gotten Stefan in trouble.

"Great," Damon muttered, rolling his eyes. He looked at Josh's bare legs, while the boy held the towel in front of his pelvis. The soiled boot still encased his right ankle and foot. "Wipe that boot as clean as you can. I assume you have clean clothes you can put on."

"Yes, sir."

"Then get dressed and come down to the kitchen," Damon said as he walked out of the bathroom.

When Damon was gone, Josh sat back down on the toilet seat lid. He was shaking a little. Even though he had been wrong about Damon's intentions, he realized that the idea of being sexually assaulted had terrified him. He remembered the nice couple who had given him a ride from Richmond to Charlottesville and the man who had given him a ride to Mystic Falls. All three adults had been nice to him, but it could have been different. He could have been picked up by someone with nasty intentions. Because of his age and his smallish size, he could have been taken advantage of seriously.

He also considered the fact that he had been undressed in front of people three times this weekend. Once at the hospital, once before Stefan for the bath and now once in front of Damon. All of that was weird and disturbing.

He suddenly felt the urge to phone his father to come get him. He wanted to go home. This adventure and this place were bad luck for him. It was scary.

While Josh was having these thoughts, Damon went down the back stairs and found Mrs. Flowers about to go up the stairs.

"Paco just told me Josh fell and hit his head," she said. "Is he all right?"

"He seems to be. He has a 'goose egg' on his forehead. He's cleaning up from the mud he fell into," Damon told her.

The two adults went into the kitchen where Paco was sitting at the table and drinking a soft drink. The boy looked worried, but he had heard what Damon had said. In addition, he hadn't heard any yelling or screaming coming from upstairs.

"I'm starting to fix something for lunch for the boys. Will you be eating with us, Damon?" the woman asked.

Damon wanted a drink rather than food. "Don't worry about me. I'll eat when I'm ready. I want to go look at the fountain where the boys found mud. There shouldn't be any there."

When Josh came downstairs, he joined Paco at the kitchen table. He was glad to find Damon absent. Mrs. Flowers examined the bump on his head with concern. The small cut was not bleeding now.

"It's time for your pain pill. Do you want it?" she asked, noticing that the boy looked tired and depressed. His face looked tight with discomfort. How many more mishaps could happen to him?

"Yes, ma'am. My ankle hurts and so does my head," Josh said, nodding.

Damon returned to a silent kitchen. The boys were sitting quietly, sipping soft drinks while Mrs. Flowers made sandwiches. He saw that she had deli-sliced ham and roast beef, the latter looking nice a pink. Rare.

"I'll have one with the roast beef, please, Mrs. Flowers," he told her and she nodded. He got a cold beer from the refrigerator and popped the can top. He then leaned against the counter and took a long drink.

"I was telling Josh that his father called," the woman said. "He's on his way from Richmond to get him. After all, there's school tomorrow."

"I suspect you'll be glad to get away from here, kid," Damon said. "I don't think this place is good for you."

"I'm beginning to feel that way," Josh admitted.

Mrs. Flowers put generous sandwiches and a bowl of chips in front of the boys. When Damon showed no signs of sitting down, she gave him his sandwich at the counter. She was sitting down to enjoy her own sandwich when Stefan walked in.

"Can I make you a sandwich, Stefan?" she asked, starting to get up.

"Please sit, Mrs. Flowers. I can make my own sandwich," Stefan said. He went to the refrigerator and picked up the package of roast beef.

"When you took Josh to the garage, did you lock up afterward?" Damon asked his brother.

Stefan glanced at him and then went back to making his sandwich. "I used my garage door opener to get in and when we left. Why?"

"Josh went back out there with Paco. He said the small door was unlocked. The shed, too."

Stefan frowned. "I don't remember the last time I used the small door or the front door of the shed. It's been ages." He realized Damon had been ready to jump all over him for leaving the place unlocked. Well, too bad. He hadn't done it. He gave Damon a small, quick, fake grin.

Josh noticed this subtle battle and he hid a smile because Stefan had won.

Damon gave a snort and swallowed some beer.

Stefan took his sandwich and a beer to the fourth seat at the table and joined the woman and the boys.

"Just in case you're wondering," Mrs. Flowers said, "I use the garage door opener you gave me if I put my car inside."

"Okay. So the doors have been unlocked for an unknown period of time," Damon said. "The antique car and the lawn mower are still there, so it doesn't matter."

There wasn't much conversation as everyone ate. Then Paco excused himself to use the bathroom down the hall.

"Why didn't you tell me about Katherine?" Josh asked in a hushed voice, looking from Stefan to Damon accusingly. He noticed that all three adults stopped eating and looked at him. They all knew!

A/N What will the adults say? And what more could possibly happen to Josh?


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

A/N Thanks to you all who are following and who reviewed. I appreciate it. Sorry about the slight delay in getting this chapter posted. I've been on a roll with "A Journal for Stefan." Ideas pop into my head and I have to write them.

"Josh's Father"

"Tell you what?" Damon asked. Had Josh found out Katherine was a vampire?

"She was out there. Katherine. At the fountain after I fell. I was, like, bleeding a little from the bump and she wiped it away with her finger. Then she put her finger in her mouth! She was going to, like, _swallowed_ my blood, but she spit it out! Because I have medicine in my body. She told me she's one of those people who pretend to be vampires and taste blood. Y'all _knew _that, didn't you? That's why you asked if she… if she… I can't say it."

"She bit you," Damon said evenly.

Josh nodded, frowning. Why couldn't he just come out and say it?

"Katherine can be nice if she wants to be," Stefan said. "But she does some weird things. I know she's pretty and sexy, but …"

Josh nodded. I need to keep away from her, he thought. I'm glad Dad is coming for me. I've had all I can take of Mystic Falls.

As the pain pill took effect, Josh was relieved of most of his pain, but he felt sleepy. The meal was over and he wanted to lie down. Mrs. Flowers suggested that he go back to his room and rest for a while. He agreed to that.

"I'll drive Paco home," Stefan said. The boys said they were glad to have met and that they could text each other. They then said goodbye. While Mrs. Flowers went upstairs with Josh, Stefan and Paco walked out to the Porsche.

"Your brother is a scary guy," the younger boy said to Stefan.

"He can be. I'm not afraid of him. He's my brother. We argue and yell at each other sometimes. If he punches me, I punch him back."

Paco just laughed at that as he opened the door and got into the car. "I'm glad you asked me to come over and meet Josh. I like him."

"He's a good kid," Stefan agreed. "He's a little accident-prone though."

"Ain't that the truth," Paco agreed with a grin.

With the pet store closed to customers on Sunday, Stefan took the teen to his own home. He then returned to the big house and went to his third floor room. He sat thinking and then added the latest of Josh's mishaps to his journal.

He was glad the boy was going home. It was bad enough that he knew that Katherine liked the taste of blood; he hoped the boy wouldn't find out the real meaning of that. And he didn't like that Katherine was playing games with the kid.

In his bedroom, Josh lay down on the bed. His aunt stood close by.

"If you fall asleep, that's all right. I'll wake you when your father gets here. I'll wake you in an hour, regardless, because I want to be sure you don't have a problem with the blow to your head."

"I'm all right, Aunt Theo. I didn't even get, like, knocked out," Josh said. "I know it seems like I'm a lot of trouble, but I didn't mean to be."

"I know that, Josh. Things have just happened to you, although you know your own actions have led to them."

"But I didn't mean for any of that stuff to happen. Like, I can't believe I shot Damon or I fell down into that cave."

"I can't believe you did, either," the woman said, shaking her head.

"I'm still glad I came here. When I heard Dad talking to Uncle Cord about you moving to Mystic Falls, I thought it would be fun to call you and see if I could visit some time. I didn't think it would be so soon. I thought, like, maybe next summer."

"It's all right that you came now, but please don't go hitchhiking with strangers any more, Josh. That worries me," the woman said, a concerned look on her face.

"I probably won't."

"All right. You look sleepy. Go ahead and rest for a while." She left the room and didn't close the door.

Josh closed his eyes and lay there thinking. What a crazy couple of days. He ran through all the things that had happened. Who would have thought he would have surgery and spend a night in the hospital? That had been scary. And a little embarrassing. Once again he thought that he had never taken his clothes off in front of so many people, the ones in the hospital, Stefan and then Damon. He'd been lucky that Damon hadn't taken a belt to his rear end for all that he had accidentally done.

Despite his worrying, he soon fell asleep.

An hour later, Mrs. Flowers woke Josh for two reasons: she wanted to know that he had not slipped into unconsciousness from the head bump, and his father had arrived.

Josh opened his eyes, a bit groggy from having been in deep sleep. He saw his aunt and then he saw his father. A rush of nervous adrenaline brought him fully awake.

"Dad, you're here already?" he asked, not realizing he had been asleep for an hour.

"Yes. How are you feeling, son?" the man asked. George Salvatore was Theo's nephew, one of her brother's sons. He had dark hair and gray-blue eyes. He reminded the woman of her brother, who had the handsome look so many Salvatores had.

"Right now, sleepy," Josh said. "And my ankle isn't hurting much."

"He had a pain pill an hour and a half ago at lunch," Aunt Theo said. "He'll be due for another in two and a half hours. I have the instructions from the hospital ready for you. He'll have to see a doctor in Richmond as a follow-up from his surgery."

"All right," the man said. To his son he said, "I can't believe you fell down a hole walking in the woods!"

"It was hidden by a bush," Josh said. "I was walking along and then I was down in a cave. There were even _bats_ in the cave, Dad."

"I hope someone is going to cover that dangerous hole," the man said with a frown.

Damon had come to the door and he now said, "It's on the neighbor's property. They have been told now about the cave-in that opened the hole. They'll cover it. I'm Damon Salvatore. I don't believe we've met." He came into the room and held out his hand.

George shook the younger man's hand. "Glad to meet you. I hope my son hasn't been a problem for you. Other than this injured ankle and the bump on his head."

"He didn't get into any more trouble than my brother and I usually did at his age," Damon said, rolling his eyes. "It's always something, but that's life. Right?"

"I guess so," George said.

Damon guessed that George was probably one of those people who usually didn't get into trouble. Steady George, going along doing the right thing. How like Stefan. He showed no sign of knowing anything about vampires.

"While Josh packs up his things, come on downstairs," Damon said. "Can I offer you coffee or something stronger?"

"Coffee would be great," George said.

Mrs. Flowers offered to help Josh pack his belongings, but Josh said he could do it. The lady then went downstairs to join the men in the kitchen. Damon had just started the coffee maker. With a few minutes to wait, Damon and the lady showed George the downstairs rooms. George particularly liked the big study. The three people ended up back in the kitchen where the coffee was ready and smelled delicious. In fact, since the afternoon was pleasant outside, the three of them took their coffee out onto the patio.

It didn't take but a few minutes for Josh to get his things into his backpack. The new clothes he folded up and stuffed into a pillow case, forming a bundle that he could carry. When he was ready to go downstairs, he realized it was a lot to carry while he used the crutches. Perhaps he should leave the stuff in his room and ask his father to bring the things down.

He decided on this course of action and went down the stairs with just his crutches. No one was in the kitchen, but he heard voices chatting out on the patio. He was about to go out the back door when another thought crossed his mind. He wanted to see Katherine one more time. He wasn't sure what he would say to her, but he still wanted to see her again. After all, he probably would never see her again.

A/N Will anything happen to Josh if he looks for Katherine or will things work out right for him this time?


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

A/N Again, thank you for the reviews and to all of you reading this story.

"Katherine, Where Are You?"

He knew her room was down in the basement. Was she there now or out and about? Perhaps he could leave her a note if she was gone. So, how did he get down to the basement? At his own home, the stairway was under the stairs that led to the second floor. He walked to the back stairway and looked at the area under them. Sure enough, there was a door. A closet or the way down to the basement?

He opened the door and was pleased to see a flight of steps going downward. There was a light on the wall and he flipped the switch. The light came on and illuminated the stairs and part of the hall beyond. With care, Josh made his way down, leaving the door open behind him. He found the basement to be different from that of his own home. There seemed to be a hallway with openings and even doors on each side.

The light was very dim, but he found another light switch and flipped it. A row of lights came on. The hall stretched away toward what he was sure was the front of the house. However, there was a jog in the hall, so he really couldn't see beyond that.

All right, where would Katherine's room be? She had an outside entrance, but where? And if she had a room down here, why couldn't she just go up the stairs and enter the rest of the house? The door hadn't been locked. Odd.

He decided to head toward the front of the house. A side door could be anywhere. He hadn't walked around the outside of the house, so he didn't know where bulkheads and entrances were located.

He opened a door or two and he peeked into rooms where the doors stood open. He found stuff stored away. He found a big furnace and a couple of water heaters. There were plenty of pipes going here and there and ducts that he thought might be for cooling.

He thought he detected faint light coming from under one door. Katherine's room? He listened and thought he heard a slow dripping of water. He knocked and softly called, "Katherine?" When no one came to the door, he tried the knob. The door was locked. Then he thought he smelled an earthy odor, like a garden, so he sniffed at the crack around the door. Plants?

It suddenly occurred to him that plants were being grown inside. Were the Salvatores growing marijuana? Well, surprise, surprise! Josh knew the smell of marijuana smoke. He had smoked some, although he wasn't really into it. He had not smelled or seen any indication that either of the brothers smoked the weed. Oh, well, it was none of his business. Perhaps they just sold it. He had never heard of vervain and didn't consider that someone might grow it secretly.

He moved on. He came to an area that surprised him more. The small rooms off to one side had solid doors except for a small barred window in each door. A heavy metal slide bar locked each door. The rooms were cells! Someone could be locked away down here! Who? Why? A chill ran down his back. He shouldn't be down here! If these cells were a secret, he shouldn't have discovered them. Marijuana and secret cells in the basement were discoveries he better keep to himself, for certain!

Fearful now, he hurried back the way he had come, the rubber tips of his crutches making a muffled tapping sound. He didn't think to open the humming freezer in a nook in the hall. If he had, he would have discovered bags of blood from a blood bank.

"I need to get out of here before they find out I came down here," he whispered to himself as he swung along on his crutches. "Katherine, where are you?"

He finally came to the back stairs and was about to go up when he saw a door open just beyond in the short part of the hall he had not explored. Katherine stepped out into the hall. There was her room!

"Katherine!" he called, hurrying toward her. He stopped about four feet away.

"Josh, what are you doing down here?" she asked, surprised.

"I was looking for you. My dad's here to take me home and I wanted to see you before I left," Josh admitted a bit bashfully.

"That's sweet. I thought maybe you were mad at me after I tasted your blood."

"It just sort of, like, grossed me out, but I'm over that now."

"I'm glad to hear that. I'd be sad if you hated me."

"I don't hate you at all! I really like you," Josh admitted. He felt himself blushing.

"So, you're going back home?"

"Yeah. This place is bad news for me. Except for meeting you!"

"We had a little adventure, didn't we? The cave, I mean."

Josh had to chuckle over that. It would have been great to be stuck in the cave with Katherine, if he hadn't been in so much pain with his broken ankle, that is.

Taking a deep breath for courage, he asked, "Katherine, why did you bite me?"

"Now that you know me better, with my peculiar tastes, why do you think?"

Josh hesitated to answer. She was right. He did know the answer. She liked the taste of blood and she had pretended to be a vampire. She was weird that way.

"Okay. I guess I understand. It's still, like, pretty gross, you know. Tasting people's blood. You could get AIDS or something."

"I try to be careful. I was sure you didn't have AIDS. You don't, do you?"

"NO!"

"So I'm safe. Can I kiss you?"

"What? I mean, yeah, sure," Josh said, his heart pounding.

"Just a quick kiss. Nothing passionate, you understand. I don't want to give you the wrong idea. I really like you, but… You know."

"A goodbye kiss," Josh suggested, trying not to appear foolishly eager to feel her lips on his.

Katherine reached out to him, taking his face between her hands. Leaning on his crutches under his armpits, Josh reached out, putting his hands on her sides. He held his breath as her lips gently touched his for a long second. He didn't close his eyes, but he saw that she did. Before he could do likewise, she moved back, letting go of his face. He still had his hands on her sides and he almost fell over because he didn't let go as she stepped back.

"Break it up, you two," Damon snapped from the area near the bottom of the steps. "Katherine, what's the matter with you?"

A/N Once again Damon interrupts Josh's time with Katherine! I hope you liked Josh's trip to the basement.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

A/N Well, here is some more of Josh. Thanks to you all who are reading about him.

"A Smashing Farewell"

"Mind you own business, Damon," Katherine snapped right back. "Josh says he's leaving and we were just saying goodbye. That was a kiss between friends. That's all."

"Maybe for you, but I can see it was more for the kid," Damon said, glancing at Josh's pants.

Josh knew he was aroused and now he was embarrassed. Katherine had that effect on him. He couldn't go up to the kitchen and face his father like that. Not right away, anyway.

"Bye, Josh. I'm glad we met," Katherine said and she headed for the doorway that led outside.

"Didn't we warn you to stay away from her?" Damon asked the crestfallen boy.

"Yes, sir, but I wanted to see her once more." It occurred to him belatedly that he had not asked her for her phone number or e-mail address.

"And she kissed you. Did she bite you again?"

"No, sir."

"You just can't stay out of trouble, can you? Well, come on upstairs," Damon said, turning toward the stairway.

"Um … can we wait a minute?"

"How about we use that minute by me beating your sorry ass?"

The threat made Josh cringe, but he didn't really think Damon would do it. It also had the deflating effect Damon had hoped for.

"Good enough. Get upstairs," the man said. He stepped aside and let Josh go up first, just in case the confused boy lost his balance on the crutches. With this kid's luck, he'd fall and break something else.

Mrs. Flowers and George were still out on the patio having a nice conversation. They hadn't seen each other for several months and happily chatted away.

Damon and Josh stopped at the back door, looking out.

"Where's your stuff?" Damon asked, looking around. "Did you put it by the front door?"

"No, it's still in my room. I couldn't carry it down the stairs. I was going to ask Dad to bring it down for me."

Damon looked at the boy and then let out a sigh. "I'll get it for you. Go sit with them." He nodded toward the patio.

He went up the back stairs and to the room Josh had been using. The bed was unmade with the sheet and comforter half on the floor. A couple of candy wrappers were also on the floor. A book lay open on the desk. Glancing into the bathroom, he saw the dirty towels heaped on the floor. The tube of toothpaste lay on the sink, while the cap was on the floor. The room looked as messy as Stefan's often did.

Damon knew that he and Stefan had been opposites about their rooms even as children. For some reason, Damon had been neat. Perhaps because he recalled praise from his mother when he was really young and he had put things away properly. Stefan, on the other hand, had left everything lying around. It was true that they had had a nanny and there was a maid to pick things up, but Damon had felt some sense of pride and accomplishment at having neatened his bed and his room and putting his clothes where they belonged. He had kept his small bookshelf neat. Had he become a bit obsessive about that? Perhaps.

His father had neither noticed nor commented on his neatness. Instead, Giuseppe had been more interested in how well his young son rode his pony, how well he could cast a fly fishing line and how well the boy shot a gun. Damon had done these things well and had initially pleased his father, but somewhere along the way, the father had lost interest. Probably when Stefan was born. Probably when their mother's health had begun to decline.

Young Damon had started misbehaving to get attention. The attention he got was his father's ire. It was the beginning of a long conflict between them that didn't end until Giuseppe died. And a hundred and forty odd years later, Damon still felt the anger.

He picked up Josh's backpack and the bundle of clothes and took then down to the kitchen. Josh had gone outside to the patio and was talking to his father and his aunt.

Damon stood looking out the door, his thoughts momentarily going back to the brief memories he had just had about his father.

Stefan came up behind him. "Is that Josh's father?" Stefan had never met the man.

"Yeah. George. Josh went down to the basement looking for Katherine."

"Oh,oh. Did he find her?"

"Yeah. I caught her kissing him. Just a friendly kiss, she said. Got the kid turned on again. Then she left."

"She is such a teasing bitch," Stefan murmured, frowning and shaking his head.

"I can't wait for this kid to be gone," Damon muttered. "Well, come on outside and I'll introduce you to George."

The distant cousins, actually far distant uncle/nephew, were introduced and greeted each others pleasantly. George had a ready laugh and a firm handshake, and Stefan liked him immediately.

It was decided by George that he and Josh needed to get on the road to Richmond. The father picked up the backpack and bag of clothing in the kitchen. Eventually, the five people were in the front hall, saying the usual things people did prior to some of them departing.

Josh had mixed feelings about going home. He wasn't sure if he was forgiven by his father or if he would be grounded in the guest room for a month. On the other hand, this Mystic Falls house seemed to be bad luck for him, excluding Katherine, of course.

As he hobbled toward the front door, one of his crutches caught on the edge of a small Oriental rug and he lost his balance. He fell forward, hitting a tall, wrought iron coat rack before landing on his abdomen on the floor. He didn't think he had suffered anymore injuries, but he was embarrassed to have everyone looking down at him.

None of them happened to notice the coat rack sway, tilt and hit another tall piece of furniture. Off balance, a large porcelain vase on top swayed, over-tilted and fell. It crashed onto the head of Stefan who was bending down to help Josh. Had it not hit Stefan, it would have hit Josh. It was heavy enough to knock Stefan out, after which it hit the hardwood floor beside Josh and smashed. Stefan collapsed, his body lying across Josh's head and shoulders.

"What the hell!" Damon exclaimed, while Mrs. Flowers uttered a cry of surprise and George gasped. All three stared down at the sight for a second in astonishment.

Damon stepped forward quickly and lifted his brother and moved him off Josh. The older brother laid Stefan on his back on the floor. Like Josh, Stefan now had a lump forming on his head, but this one was on the back. It wasn't bleeding and Damon wasn't worried about it.

"Oh, dear," Mrs. Flowers said, bending over to look closely at the unconscious young man.

"Is he all right?" Josh asked fearfully. He hadn't seen the vase fall, but he'd heard it hit Stefan's head and he'd seen the vase shatter right in front of his face. And then Stefan's weight had been pressing heavily down on him, making it hard to breathe.

George too looked alarmed and he said, "He isn't breathing!"

"It's all right," Damon quickly said. "He's just stunned and he's holding his breath." He laid a hand on Stefan's chest and shook him. "Come on, brother. Time to wake up. And take a damned breath before these folks jump in and do CPR on you."

Luckily, Stefan did take a breath and moaned. His face scrunched up in an expression of pain. His right hand came up to press against the lump on his head and he opened his eyes. He bent one knee up and then let it collapse back down to the floor.

Closing his eyes again, he asked, "What happened?"

"Another Josh mishap," Damon said sarcastically.

"Huh? Josh? Is he okay?" Stefan asked and he opened his eyes again. He turned his head and looked at Josh, who was still lying on the floor, but was up on his elbows and looking at him with alarm.

"I'm okay, Stefan. Are you?" the boy asked.

"Yeah. Just a bump on the head and a headache," Stefan said, feeling the lump.

"I'm sorry. I tripped," Josh said. To his father he said, "Dad, help me up."

George moved into position and lifted Josh to his feet and handed him the crutches. To Damon the man said, "That vase was probably worth some money. Have it appraised and let me know."

"Don't worry about it, George. If it's valuable, it's insured.

"You need to get outta here, Josh," Stefan said. "I think this house has it in for you."

"I'm beginning to think, like, you're right," Josh agreed. He looked down at Stefan and could hardly believe he had caused another incident, but there lay Stefan, laid out on the floor.

Damon took his brother's arm and said, "Come on, brother, stand up." In a moment, Stefan was on his feet with Damon holding onto his arm. "Let's go into the study while Mrs. Flowers sees our guests off."

In a minute, both of them were seated and sipping generous shots of bourbon. They didn't say anything. They just enjoyed the quiet moment. It seemed like a weight was off their shoulders.

Mrs. Flowers soon returned after waving goodbye to her relatives. She walked right by the broken vase and entered the study.

"How about a shot of bourbon?" Damon asked her.

"A wee dram of scotch would be great," she said, pushing back a lock of her mostly-white hair.

Damon got up and poured this for her. He handed it to her where she had taken a seat. He sat down on the sofa and propped up a foot.

All three of them let out a sigh of relief.

A/N This is the end of this story. I may bring Josh back at a different time, but for now he is going home. Thanks again to you all who have been following Josh's misadventures and to those of you who reviewed.


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